The Paths We Chose II
by Missyfan
Summary: The story picks up a few months later. Gosalyn and Abby start High School. Drake gets a few surprises, as do Launchpad and Gwen. A marriage is tested, someone is attacked, someone is kidnapped and someone dies.
1. Ch 1 One Long Day In September

I do not own Darkwing Duck or some of the characters in this story.

This story picks up a few months after the double wedding of Drake and Beth, and Gwen and Launchpad. Gwen and Launchpad learned that Gwen was pregnant. Drake and Beth took in Trina's newborn baby and named him Christian. Gosalyn and Skyler continued dating. And Drake had to adapt to working with a female partner.

Over the summer, Launchpad helped Drake turn his attic into a room for Jake, so that they could turn his old room into a nursery. Drake and Beth wanted to keep their fourth bedroom a guestroom. Gosalyn and Skyler competed in a few dance competitions and won awards for best performances in their age category. Abby discovered that she was really good at picking up boys at the local pool, and secretly had sex with a few of them. Abby's mother Trina was given a break after her ex-husband's trial. She is no longer in prison, but she has limited visitation with Abby and Christian. She can take them a few times during the week but not overnight.

This year, our characters will face new surprises, challenges and heartbreak, as more people join the fold.

Today is the first day of school for the kids. Gosalyn and Abby start High School and Jake starts Preschool. Drake and Beth both have to work, so Trina will take Christian for the day. Drake is sitting in the kitchen feeding Christian a bottle while Jake is eating cereal. Beth is running around trying to get ready, while Gosalyn is in her bedroom preparing for her first day of High School. She is also waiting for Abby to sneak back in. Abby has snuck out a few times at night, but she's always been able to sneak back in before Drake or Beth knew she was gone. This time is different. Gosalyn looks at the clock. It is six thirty, which means the bus will be there in twenty minutes. She picks up her phone to call Abby, but stops dialing when Drake knocks on the door.

"Girls, are you ready?"

Gosalyn panics. She does not want to give her friend away. She walks over to the window, hoping to see Abby climbing up the side of the house. But there is no sign of Abby. Drake calls out again from the other side of the door.

"Girls?"

"Ah, almost ready Dad." Gosalyn answers him in a rather startled voice. This does not sit well with Drake.

"Gos, is everything okay in there?"

"Everything's fine, just getting dressed."

Drake is not convinced, but he knows he can't just open the door. He's tried really hard to respect the girls' privacy. "Okay, make sure you come down soon so you have time to eat breakfast."

"Abby, where are you?" Gosalyn says under her breath. She dials Abby's cell phone. It rings in Abby's purse, so she doesn't hear it right away. Abby is in her mother's family room sleeping on the couch, and there is a boy there with her, Zachary. They are partially clothed and are just waking up. Abby's mother isn't home yet. She got a job with the local newspaper, which involves working overnight sometimes. Abby and Zachary hear the phone ring and slowly wake up. Abby panics when she realizes that they've overslept.

"Oh No!" Abby shoots up like a rocket, but Zachary is still waking up.

"What, what is it?" Zachary rubs his eyes and sits up next to her.

"What time is it?"

"It's ah, it's…. twenty minutes to seven."

Abby gives Zachary a look. She knows she's already in trouble with the Mallards, and she will be in trouble with her mother if she walks in and sees her with a boy.

"My mother's going to be home any minute. We've got to get outta here."

At the Mallard house, Drake is suspicious when Gosalyn arrives in the kitchen without Abby. "Where's Abby?"

Gosalyn knows she is caught. She doesn't see a way out of this one.

"She's not here."

"Well then where is she?"

"I don't know."

Drake stands up and starts to walk over to Gosalyn. "I had a feeling something wasn't right. She wasn't upstairs at all this morning, was she?"

Gosalyn has a dreaded look on her face. She doesn't respond. She doesn't have to, Drake already knows the answer. He picks up the phone and dials Abby's cell phone.

At Trina's house, Abby has her cell phone in her hand and sees the missed call from Gosalyn. She jumps as the cell phone rings again. It is he foster parent, Drake. "Hello?"

"Big trouble young lady!"

Abby sighs "I know."

"Are you okay?" Drake asks with more concern in his voice than reprimand.

"I'm okay. I'm at my Mom's house."

"I figured that. You need to get to school, okay? You don't want to be late on your first day."

"Okay, I will" Abby answers in a dreaded voice to match Gosalyn's facial expression.

"We will talk about this later when your mother comes over."

"Mr Mallard?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't be mad at Gosalyn, okay? She wasn't in on this. She didn't know anything about it."

"I'll be the judge of that." Drake answers as he looks over at Gosalyn.

As Abby ends the call, Zachary walks over to her and offers her a cup of coffee.

"Thank you"

"You're welcome. We should get going so we're not late for school."

"I still need to get dressed. Why don't you go on ahead?" Abby stands up and starts to fold the blanket that they were using.

"I thought we had to beat it out of here. Won't your Mom be home soon?"

"Doesn't really matter now. Its okay, you can go. Maybe I'll catch up with you later.

"Okay" Zachary kisses Abby and leaves. She watches him leave and sighs.

This is the fourth guy she's had sex with this summer. She meets a boy at the pool, makes plans to meet up with him again and winds up in bed with him. She doesn't know why she does this. It's almost like an addiction. The only person that knows about this is Gosalyn.

Gosalyn is sitting at the kitchen table pushing her cereal around with her spoon. She is thinking about Abby, knowing that she's done it again. Gosalyn hasn't gone that far with her boyfriend yet, so she's not sure what kind of advice she can offer her friend. So far, all she's been able to do is listen to Abby talk about her experiences with these boys. Drake sits down next to her and puts his phone on the table.

"Abby told me that I should go easy on you, since you weren't in on this."

Gosalyn doesn't say anything, but she does look up at him.

"Did you know that Abby slept at her mother's house last night?"

"No I didn't. I didn't know she was gone until I woke up this morning."

"You do know that this could be bad if the judge ever found out. Trina is not supposed to have her kids overnight." Gosalyn looks up at him again. Drake doesn't want to be mad at Gosalyn. He knows that she was just trying to be a good friend to Abby. "She needs to sleep here until the judge says otherwise."

"When do you think that will be?"

"I don't know. But until then we need to make sure we follow the judge's rules, so Trina doesn't get into trouble."

Gosalyn stands up, kisses her father on the cheek and starts to leave. Drake stops her.

"Wait, Gos, I've packed lunches for you and Abby."

Gosalyn looks at the brown bags of, no doubt, healthy lunches, then she looks at her father.

"Thanks Dad, but, high school kids buy their lunches."

"Sorry, I must've missed the memo. Why don't you take these for today and we'll talk about it later."

Gosalyn takes the bags from Drake. "Bye Dad"

Drake watches Gosalyn for a few seconds as she walks over to join Honker and Tank. The three of them walk to the bus stop together. He closes the door and sees Beth walk down the steps. She is finishing putting her second earring in.

"Good morning Honey" Beth walks up to Drake and kisses him, then rushes to the kitchen.

"Running late, Dear?"

Beth rushes around the kitchen to prepare a breakfast that she can take with her, a bagel and cream cheese. "Yes, running very late. I can drop off Jake at school, could you drop of Christian at Trina's?"

"You've got it." Drake walks over and stops Beth from preparing her bagel. He takes her in his arms and kisses her passionately. Jake looks over at them and giggles.

"What was that for?" Beth asks, forgetting that she was in a hurry.

"Just because."

"I like your 'just because's'"

Drake looks at his watch. "But you're right, we've better get going."

Beth finishes packing her bagel and gets Jake cleaned up. Drake picks Christian up and puts him in his car seat as the family prepares to leave the house for the day.

/

Gosalyn runs into Abby at school as they both try to locate their homerooms. It is their Freshmen year, and the big school is overwhelming for both of them. Abby is a bit on edge, and Gosalyn is a bit upset with her friend for not making it back into the house on time.

"Well it's about time you showed up!" Gosalyn scolds.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean for this to happen. We…"

"Let me guess" Gosalyn interrupts. "You and Zach from the pool?"

"Yes, me and Zach from the pool. We meant to wake up really early, but we…"

"Naa! I don't want details" Gosalyn interrupts again. She then lowers her voice so only Abby could hear her. They start to walk down the hall. "I just… don't get it. I'm trying to understand but I just don't get it. You meet a boy at the pool, you make plans to go out with him and then you two wind up having sex. And then you start the cycle over again with a different boy."

"I don't… know why I do it. But nobody can know about it. You didn't tell anyone did you?"

"Of course not!" Gosalyn responds defensively. "Who would I tell, my Dad?"

Abby stops walking "Please don't"

"Abby, I'm not going to tell anybody. But I do think you should stop this before anyone else finds out. Do you even feel anything for these boys?"

At this moment, Abby spots Zachary with his ex-girlfriend Bailar. They are talking, and they both have smiles on their faces.

"Is that Zach?" Gosalyn asks.

"Yeah, that's him."

Skyler walks up to Gosalyn and surprises her with a kiss.

"Oh Hi, I didn't think I'd see you before homeroom."

"Looks like our homerooms are in the same hall." Skye answers. "Hi Abby"

"Hey Skye" Abby responds as her eyes stay glued to Zach.

"Who are we looking at?" Skye asks Gosalyn.

"Do you know Zach? He's standing right over there."

Skye looks in the direction that Gosalyn is pointing. "Yeah I know him, he was in a few of my classes last year. And that's his ex Bailar. I thought they broke up."

"I guess not" Abby responds as the bell rings. The students rush to their assigned homerooms.

/

Across town, Drake meets up with Launchpad for lunch. They are sitting at a table off to the side at a coffee and sandwich shop. Launchpad has a rather large food order, while Drake settles on a ham and cheese on rye.

"Launchpad, doesn't Gwen feed you at home?"

Launchpad takes a breath after a few bites to answer Drake's question. "Of course she does. But right now with her pregnancy, she kind of has no appetite, certain foods make her nauseous. So if she doesn't eat, I don't eat."

"Ah, the things we do for the ones we love. How is Gwen doing with her pregnancy?"

"She's tired a lot. She doesn't get a lot of sleep. But she insists on working up until her due date. We have a doctor's appointment this afternoon. Speaking of pregnancy, when are you and Beth gonna.."

"We… haven't made plans yet. We have Abby and Christian until the judge allows Trina to care for them full time." Drake responds with a smile.

"You're beaming" Launchpad observes and matches his smile. "It won't be long."

Drake continues to smile at the concept of having another child with Beth.

/

Back at the High School, the girls' soccer coach has called an emergency meeting in the gym for the senior varsity and some of the junior varsity players. Gosalyn looks around at the people present at the meeting and notices that most of the seniors are not there. Abby is sitting next to her sulking at the thought of Zach with his ex-girlfriend. Gosalyn snaps her out of it.

"Doesn't it seem odd to you that the seniors didn't show up to this meeting?"

The coach and the principal join the meeting. The girls grow nervous since the principal is involved. Each of them wonders what this could possibly be about.

"I'd like to thank you all for taking time out of your classes to meet with us today" the principal begins. "We have an important announcement to make about a very serious matter."

The girls continue to grow uneasy, and one girl even raises her hand. The principal allows her to ask her question. "Are we in trouble?"

The principal raises and eyebrow at the girl. "Do you feel that you did something that you should be in trouble for?" The girl shrugs her shoulders and doesn't answer the question. The principal continues. "It was recently brought to our attention that some of the athletes in this school have been doing drugs. Cocaine and Marijuana."

This strikes a chord for Gosalyn, who recently struggled with the subject of marijuana. She even had it in her possession for a short amount of time. She starts to sweat as she thinks about the senior girls that gave it to her, Carly and Kara. She has a flashback of them being in the locker room and offering it to her after practice. She snaps out of it to listen to the principal.

"During soccer camp last week, you were each given a drug test. I regret to report that some of the athletes in this school were found to have drugs in their system at the time, and as a result, they are prohibited from playing in any high school sport for the rest of the year." The girls let out gasps and look around at each other. It is starting to make more sense that most of the senior girls are not present for the meeting. "We will not tolerate the use of drugs inside of outside of this school. I need you to use this as an example, and think before you act. Some of you are new to this school. Some of you were here last year. Either way, you are all going to face peer pressure at some point during your high school careers. My advice to you is, don't be afraid to say no. Don't be afraid to talk to your teachers, or your counselors, or your coaches when you are in a situation that you feel you can't get out of. I want you to look around now. This is the new senior varsity team. It is a privilege to be a part of this team. It means that you have worked really hard, you have kept your grades up, and you are not using drugs. I will turn it over to Coach Brownhawk now. Ladies, thank you."

The girls are silent. Each of them takes in what the principal had just said to them. All but one senior girl has been kicked off the team for drug use. Gosalyn can't help but feel a little guilty since she was in possession of a drug not too long ago.

"I hope you girls take what the principal said to heart" The coach says. "Obviously this is a big change, but I know if we work hard, we can measure up to the senior varsity name and win some games this season. My first order of business is appointing a new team captain. Gosalyn Mallard."

The girls gasp again and look at Gosalyn. Gosalyn was not expecting this at all. She is mortified. Not only is she a freshman, but she is probably the shortest girl on the team.

/

Drake arrives back at the stationhouse and is greeted by the Captain. Little does Drake know the surprise that he has in store for him. Captain asks Drake to accompany him into his office. When he walks in, his jaw practically drops to the ground. Smiling back at him is a beautiful female duck with strawberry blond hair and green eyes.

"Hayley?" Drake finally finds his voice. He still doesn't trust his eyes. Hayley, his older sister, is standing in the Captain's office. His deceased sister. Or so he thought.

"Hi Drakey" Hayley has tears in her eyes. Drake is all grown up. He's an adult, but he will always be her baby brother.

"Could somebody explain this please? You're dead. You died in that alley" Drake tries to make sense of all of this.

"No, I didn't. I didn't die." Hayley has more tears in her eyes, and a few drip down her face. She thought she could stay strong and hold it together, but seeing Drake for the first time in eight years is taking its toll on her.

"Hayley was forced to go into witness protection" The Captain tries to explain. "Nobody could know about it. Not even you."

"Witness protection." Drake's utter and complete shock begins to turn to anger.

"Don't be angry, please. My life was in danger and yours would have been too. It wouldn't have been fair to you" Hayley pleads.

"Neither was losing my sister. You were the only family I had left" Drake's says with his voice cracking.

"I know, but I had no choice. I had to do what I was told. The CIA…"

"The CIA! Why is the CIA involved in this?" Drake interrupts with more hurt and anger in his voice.

Hayley isn't sure she can tell her story. She looks over at the Captain and he nods "You should tell him."

Hayley takes a breath and tells her story. "I was working undercover to catch a dangerous criminal. Or so I thought. Turns out the mark was not dangerous at all. He was more like a giant teddy bear. But somebody close to him was very dangerous, so I kept the assignment. The CIA thought my cover was blown so they took me out. They wouldn't let me contact you. I wanted to so badly. I never wanted this Drakey, I swear. I thought about you all the time, I worried about you. I wondered what you were doing with your life. If you finished med school, got married, had kids. It made me so sad that I wouldn't be able to see any of that."

Drake grows soft, he wants to believe her. Why would she lie about this? He starts to think about his sanity. Is she really here or is he imagining this? Is this a dream? In his mind his life ended when his sister died, and Darkwing Duck was born. He mourned his sister all on his own. He didn't have anyone in his life, not until he met Gosalyn and Launchpad. So much has changed, and now she is back. The thought of this being true has him at a loss for words. He walks over to her so that he is standing two feet away from her. She is still unsure about his reaction to her being alive. He takes his hands and places them just beneath the outside of her shoulders. He traces his hands down her arms until he reaches her hands. He takes her hands into his and lets out an emotional laugh. "You're really here."

Hayley also lets out an emotional laugh. "Yeah"

Drake pulls her into a hug and holds onto her tight for a few minutes.

/

At the high school, Gosalyn and Abby are at the lockers talking about the meeting with the soccer team. Another member of the team, the only remaining senior, approaches them. Her name is Torrie. She is jealous that Gosalyn was named team captain and not her. She feels that she should be captain since she is the only senior.

"I can't believe this is happening, Abby. All of the senior girls kicked off the team?" Gosalyn slams her locker shut.

"Take it easy. You didn't do anything wrong"

"Then why do I feel so guilty?" Torrie walks up to the girls with one text book in her hand. "Oh, hi Torrie, how's it going?"

"It should have been me, you know?" Torrie says in a smug voice.

"What should have been you?" Gosalyn asks before she realizes what Torrie is talking about.

"I should have been captain, not you." Torrie snaps

Abby tries to intervene. "Torrie, Gosalyn had nothing to do with this. She had no idea that Coach would pick her as captain. She found out just like you did."

"You expect me to believe that?"

Gosalyn looks at Torrie in a bit of shock. She cannot believe that Torrie is acting like this. "Yeah I do. Come on, none of us knew that the other girls would get kicked off the team."

"You don't fool me. You think you're so great. Just because you were the head of the team of that last little school you went to. Well let me tell you something Mallard. You are in high school now. You're still just a freshman. A little worm on the food chain of life. You need to work your way up just like the rest of us did."

Gosalyn is taken aback. She thought she was uneasy about her sudden promotion to team captain. She didn't stop to think that her teammates would turn against her. Her uneasiness suddenly drops as she defends herself "Torrie, I don't think I'm great. I know it. So what if I'm just a freshman. I can run circles around you."

Torrie is not pleased. She turns to leave, but as soon as she turns her back to walk away, she stops and looks down at her text book. Gosalyn turns her back and starts to continue her conversation with Abby. Torrie turns around and hits Gosalyn hard over the head with her text book. Gosalyn falls to the ground and blacks out. Torrie runs away as Abby and some other students try to help Gosalyn.

/

Drake and Hayley arrive at the Mallard house. The Captain gave Drake the rest of the day off so that he could catch up with his sister. He opens the door and she walks in first. She is amazed as she looks around at all of the pictures. She picks up a picture of Drake and Beth on their wedding day.

"She's beautiful Drake. When did you get married?"

"Last spring" Drake responds.

"I wish I could have been here" She puts the picture down and picks up another. "And these are your kids?"

"Yep. That's Jake, he's mine and Beth's son. That is Abby and Christian, our foster kids. And that's my daughter Gosalyn." Drake points out each child in the photo taken just a week ago at the park.

"Gosalyn?" Hayley stares at the photo of a soon to be 15 year old Gosalyn, then looks up to see a picture of her from when she was nine years old.

"What's the matter?" Drake asks as he notices Hayley looking back and forth at each photo.

"Nothing, nothing. I thought I recognized her from somewhere, but, that's not possible." Hayley puts the photo down and walks over to the couch.

"Well, that's not entirely impossible. I adopted her."

"You did?" Hayley sits down on the couch and Drake joins her. Hayley still acts uneasy. She knows she's seen Gosalyn before, but she decides to keep that a secret from Drake for now.

"Yeah, when she was seven. So maybe you met her before that."

Hayley brushes off Drake's idea that she met Gosalyn as a little girl. "I doubt it. How would I anyway?"

"I don't know" Drake answers "How about something to drink. What do you like?"

As Hayley thinks about her choice of beverage, Drake's cell phone rings. "It's the high school. That's just great. First day of school and my daughter's already in trouble." Drake stands up and starts to walk around the room as he anticipates hearing the voice of an angry teacher or principal. Instead he hears the voice of a concerned nurse, telling him to come to the school to pick up his daughter. "Is she okay?" Drake asks with concern. "Okay, I'm on my way."

Drake ends the phone call and walks over to Hayley. "I'm sorry, I have to go pick up Gosalyn. Why don't you wait here? You can make yourself at home, relax, watch TV…"

"I'll be fine Drakey. I'll be here when you get back." Hayley responds with a smile.

Drake hugs his sister again before leaving the house. Hayley continues to look around the room at the pictures of his family, but her focus lies on Gosalyn again. She did meet her when she was a little girl. She always wondered what became of her after her grandfather was killed. She feels a sense of relief that she found a home with her brother.

/

At the hospital, Gwen and Launchpad are talking to the doctor during her appointment. Gwen is still sitting on the bed in a gown and Launchpad is standing next to her. Each appointment has made him uneasy, but this one will definitely top them all. Gwen and Launchpad get a big surprise at this appointment.

"How am I doing Doctor?" Gwen asks as the doctor writes down some notes.

"Everything is happening the way it should be. You seem to be doing everything right."

Gwen and Launchpad both let out a sigh. "Well, that's a relief."

"Why don't you lie back so we can do a sonogram?" The doctor requests as she gets the machine ready.

Gwen lies back and holds Launchpad's hand. As the doctor prepares Gwen for the sonogram, both Mom and Dad shiver with excitement as they prepare to see the first picture of their baby."

"Let's see now" the doctor beings to view the screen to show them what to look at. Ah here we go…. Well this is interesting."

"What, what's interesting?" Launchpad interrupts with worry in his voice."

"One…. Two…. Three….. well. There you have it."

"Three, what's three? Three what?" Gwen asks as she tilts her head up to look at the doctor.

"Three eggs" The doctor responds, as if seeing three eggs on a sonogram is a daily occurrence.

"Three? Really? You mean three babies?" Gwen asks with excitement.

"That's right. Congratulations, you are having triplets."

Gwen gasps with happiness. Launchpad is still holding onto Gwen's hand, and starts to grip it tighter.

"Honey, did you hear that? We're having triplets!"

Launchpad cracks a smile, then he falls to the floor.

Gwen looks down at him "Honey? Oh not again."

/

Drake and Gosalyn arrive home, where Hayley is waiting for them. She is still looking around at pictures when they join her in the family room.

"It's just a concussion Dad. I'm going to be fine." Gosalyn argues.

"Yes, you are going to be fine, because you are going to follow the doctor's orders and rest." Drake has been so caught up in what is happening with Gosalyn, he didn't even get to tell her about his sister.

"Dad, there's some woman in our house."

Drake looks up at Hayley and both ducks smile at each other. "Gosalyn, this is my sister, Hayley. Hayley, this is Gosalyn."

"How do you do?" Hayley offers her hand, but Gosalyn gives her a funny look.

"I…. must have hit my head harder than I thought. My Dad told me you were dead."

Hayley looks up at Drake as he explains. "She hit her head on a locker at school. I had to pick her up, we went to the hospital…"

"Oh" Hayley looks down at Gosalyn again.

"So, let me get this straight. You're Aunt Hayley. And you're not dead." Gosalyn summarizes while wondering how this is even possible.

"That's right, I'm not dead."

"Must run in the family, huh Dad" Gosalyn says before she looks back at an uneasy  
>Drake.<p>

"Gosalyn!" Drake scolds in a high pitched soft voice.

"What does she mean by that?" Hayley asks as Drake starts to usher Gosalyn to the steps.

"Go upstairs and rest please, I'll be up to check on you in a little bit."

Gosalyn does what she is told and walks up the steps.

"I'm sorry about that, she can be a little…"

"Forward" Hayley interrupts.

"Yes. That kid's definitely not afraid to speak her mind. The truth is I couldn't love her more."

"That's sweet" Hayley says with a smile.

"So, where've you been? What have you been doing?" Drake asks as he and Hayley sit on the couch again.

"I've been living in Canada. Since I couldn't use my own name or my own credentials I was working as a secret agent. I kept busy, you know, but I wasn't living. I missed you and I missed this city. I was itching to come back and take my brother out for a beer."

Drake lets out a chuckle. "I still remember my twenty first birthday. You wanted to hit every bar in this city. I thought you were out of your mind."

"I had a list" Hayley continues. "There were eleven bars in this city. I really thought we could do it."

"We made it to eight bars and then that was it for me. I don't think I've ever been that sick in my entire life."

"I felt so awful. I wanted that birthday to be special for you."

"Are you kidding me?" Drake asks defensively. "Hayles, everything you did for me was special. I still can't believe everything you did for me. I just wish I knew then what I know now."

"And what's that?" Hayley asks as she wipes tears of joy away from her eyes.

"How incredibly difficult it is to be a parent. How stressful it is to be responsible for another person's well being." Drake takes a moment to look at Hayley, as he feels more appreciation for her than he's ever felt. "You weren't Mom, but you stepped up and you took care of me. And now I understand how much you had to sacrifice in order to do that."

"I wouldn't have had it any other way." Hayley smiles and reaches for Drake's hand. They are interrupted as Beth and Jake arrive home. Jake immediately runs over to Drake and gets picked up by his Dad. Hayley smiles as she watches her brother play and laugh with his son.

"Upside down Daddy, upside down!" Jake yells, wanting Drake to hold him upside down. Drake does what he asks and Jake laughs. Beth walks over to join them and notices that she's seen the woman standing next to Drake before.

"Hello, don't I know you from somewhere? You look very familiar."

Drake beams as he introduces his wife to his sister.

"Honey, this is my sister Hayley."

Beth looks at Hayley and then back at Drake with a smile. "Uh, Honey?"

"Yes Pumpkin?"

"You told me Hayley was dead."

"I'm…. not dead." Hayley concedes.

"I see that." Hayley confirms. "Jake, baby, why don't you go into the kitchen and have one of your yogurts for snack?"

"Okay Momma." Drake puts his son down and he looks up at Hayley. "You're weally pwetty." He then runs to the kitchen.

"He is absolutely adorable! He is the spitting image of you at that age." Hayley says as she blushes from his compliment.

"Thank You" Beth answers. "Now, can we get back to what we were just talking about?"

"Hayley's alive. I just found out this afternoon. I walked into the Captain's office, and there she was."

Beth smiles and nods. "Hm, must run in the family."

"That's the second time I've heard that. Is there something you want to tell me, Drakey?" Hayley asks suspiciously.

"Maybe later" Drake responds trying to take the focus off himself.

"Drakey?" Beth asks with a light chuckle.

"That's what Hayles used to call me. It's just Drake now." Drake confirms.

"Will you be staying with us?" Beth asks with a hopeful tone.

"No, I couldn't"

"Well why not? We have a guest room. And it will give you and Drake a chance to catch up" Beth tries to convince Hayley to stay.

"Thank you Beth, but I don't want to put you out."

"You wouldn't be putting us out. It's like Beth said, we have a guest room" Drake also tries to convince Hayley to stay.

"Yeah, and plus I get to have a sister-in-law now. You have a niece and a nephew, they're going to want to get to know you too"

Hayley is still usure about staying with her brother and his family. She doesn't respond right away. Drake tries again "Where are you staying now?"

"In a hotel on 34th"

"Well that settles it." Drake concludes. "You are not staying in some hotel, you are staying with us, that is final, finito, no arguments, end of discussion…"

"But…" Hayley tries to interrupt.

"Nope, no buts. It's time you let your little brother do something for you."

"Drake…"

"Na ah ah, I said no arguments." Drake answers as he raises his voice.

"Fine, no arguments. I'm delighted to stay here, Drake. Thank You." Hayley says with a smile.

"You're welcome." Drake responds with a smile as he puts his arm around Beth.

"Would you mind giving me a ride into the city though? There's something I need to pick up." Hayley asks as she looks at her watch.

"Oh yeah? What's that?" Drake asks calmly.

"My daughter"

Drake and Beth look over at Hayley as though she has two heads.

"You have a daughter?" Beth asks "That's wonderful. What's her name? How old is she?" Beth continues to ask questions as Drake stands there in silence. He's not necessarily unhappy about his sister having a daughter. It suddenly occurs to him how much time has passed since he last saw his sister. They've missed out on each other's lives.

"Her name is MacKena, and she's nineteen months old."

Beth elbows Drake to snap him out of his thoughts "Honey, you have niece."

Drake looks up at Hayley, who is looking like she is waiting for his acceptance of her having a daughter. "Yeah, you are definitely staying with us. I don't want us to miss another moment of each other's lives."

"Thanks Drake, but are you sure you have room?"

"We have a nursery. Christian can sleep in the bassinet until we get a second crib."

"Thanks guys, and whatever you need me to do around here. Name it. I can cook, do dishes, do laundry…"

Drake interrupts. "We can talk about that later. Right now I'm just glad you're here. Beth, honey do you mind giving Hayles a ride into the city? Trina's gonna drop off the kids soon and I need to talk to her."

"Sure, let's go." Beth says as she grabs her keys. The women leave the house as Drake stares at the front door, as though it were about to disappear. He cannot believe that he gets to have his sister back his life. It is like a dream come true. He cannot believe that he can be this lucky.

/

After checking on Gosalyn in her room and Jake in the kitchen, Drake enters the family room, just in time to greet Trina, Abby and Christian. Trina puts Christian in the pack 'n play and joins Abby and Drake on the couch. Abby is looking down at her hands in her lap, wishing she could disappear from this conversation. Drake and her mother do not know what she's really been up to, and she prefers to keep it that way.

"I guess you've heard that Abby's been spending some nights at your house?" Drake starts as he looks up at Trina.

"Yeah, I know. We talked about it on the car ride over here." Trina says as she plays with Abby's hair. Abby is still staring down at her hands. "And Abby agreed not to sneak out anymore, right Mija?"

"I'm sorry Mr Mallard." Abby apologizes as she lifts her head to look at Drake.

"I know you want to spend more time with your mother. Right now the judge is allowing it for a few hours a week. We need to be grateful for that and follow the judge's rules. And maybe someday, you'll get more than just a few hours a week."

Abby nods. She feels bad that she is lying to them, but telling them the truth would be too humiliating for her. She stands up, hoping she can be done with this conversation. "I won't do it anymore. Mom explained that it can really mess things up with our visitation if I don't follow the rules. And that's the last thing I want."

"Okay. I think we're done here" Trina says as she stands to leave. She gives her daughter a hug and Drake shows her out. Abby takes this opportunity to retreat upstairs. Drake turns around expecting to see Abby there but she has already made it upstairs. He finds it odd that Abby couldn't get away from him fast enough.

/

The dinner table at the Mallards has gotten more crowded. Drake is seated at the head of the table. Beth is to his right and Jake is to his left. Gosalyn and Abby are to the right of Beth and Hayley and MacKena round out the rest of the table. MacKena is in a high chair. Beth had kept it from when Jake was a baby.

They are eating spaghetti. The adults and teenagers know the proper way to spin spaghetti on a spoon, while Jake and MacKena are eating it with their fingers. The family laughs as they watch the younger ducks make a mess with their dinner. Christian is in a baby seat on the floor next to Beth. Once in a while she turns her attention to him to make sure he is happy. He is still too little to sit in a high chair. He is content with the hanging toys and the soothing music from the seat.

"Aunt Hayley, tell us you were involved in some secret service intelligence group or some top secret mission to take down a huge criminal operation conspiring to…."

Drake interrupts his daughter's inquisitive questioning "Gosalyn, give it a rest. Whatever your Aunt was involved in, she won't be able to tell us about it."

Gosalyn gasps "Is that true?" Hayley nods and smiles as she eats her spaghetti. "Can you tell us where you were before you came here?"

"We were living in Canada" Beth answers as she tries to help MacKena eat her dinner. "And your Dad's right, I can't really talk about my job."

"Bummer" Gosalyn pouts.

"Let's talk about you. Your Dad was telling me that today was your first day of High School. How did it go?" Beth asks as she eats more spaghetti.

"It was alright" Gosalyn answers, not wanting to go into detail.

"Until Torrie creamed her with that text book." Abby chimes in.

"Abby!" Gosalyn angrily scolds.

"I thought you said you hit your head on a locker" Drake joins in. He starts to think that that story really doesn't make sense.

"Who's Torrie?" Hayley asks with concern.

"She's the only senior on our soccer team. She's jealous that Gosalyn got named team captain and not her."

"Abby, enough!" Gosalyn scolds again.

"Gosalyn, what really happened at school today? Did that girl hit you?" Drake asks in a firm voice.

"No" Gosalyn lies

"Yes she did." Abby corrects.

"Abby!"

"Why are you lying to me?" Drake asks as he grows impatient.

Gosalyn sits on the question for a minute, then she turns the attention to her friend "Abby hooked up with a boy from the pool."

Abby gasps, she cannot believe that Gosalyn just did that. Drake and Beth are looking at Abby, waiting for her to say something. "Beth…. took a date to Mr Mallard's funeral."

Everyone gasps this time. Beth covers her beak in horror as Hayley covers her beak to avoid laughing.

"You took a date to my funeral?" Drake asks with a sad tone.

"Well, you… faked your death for four years. How was I supposed to know that wasn't real?"

Drake looks over at Hayley. "I can explain that."

"Oh my" Hayley says with a smile, and a look of disbelief on her face.

Beth looks around at the family members sitting at her table. Nobody is talking. Gosalyn and Abby both sit back in their chairs, each feeling ashamed for revealing secrets. Drake is still trying to wrap his head around what just happened. And Jake and MacKena are still making a mess with their dinner, oblivious to what is going on with the other ducks at the dinner table. Beth knows she has to say something. Anything. "Anyone for seconds?"


	2. Ch 2 Change Partners And Dance

It is the next morning, and everyone in the Mallard house is quiet as they prepare for their day. The kids have to go to school. Beth and Drake have to work, and Hayley has to go to the court house and settle the matter of her being alive. The family is still recovering from last night's dinner.

Drake is still reeling from the news of his sister being alive. He's also not sure how to feel about Beth having a date at his funeral. They never did have the conversation about relationships each may have had before he returned. It hurts him to think that Beth had someone else in her life, and in Jake's. At the same time, he can't blame her. He was gone. Beth had every right to see other people. But at his funeral? He and Beth are in their bedroom. Beth has been walking back and forth getting ready, while Drake has been sitting on the bed, watching her.

"Beth, I have to ask you something." Drake finally says. Beth looks over at him as she puts her earrings in. "…. About this date you brought to my funeral."

Beth gives him a look as she puts her hands down. She walks over to the bed and sits next to him. "It wasn't a date. It was another doctor I knew at the hospital that was there for me. And I let him be."

"Did you let him do more than just….. be there for you?" Drake asks as he becomes uneasy.

Beth reaches over and holds his hand in his lap. "You broke off our engagement, so I was on the rebound. We had a thing. It was brief. But I didn't feel anything for him. When you….. died" Beth grimaces as she continues, "I let him be there for me. I was pregnant, and I was alone and I was scared, but after a few weeks I ended things with him. I couldn't let someone else into my life after I've just lost you."

"How'd he take it?" Drake asks, knowing very well that Beth is not an easy woman to get over.

"He left town. He was offered a job at another hospital and he took it."

Drake begins to relax and holds Beth's hand. "So, there was nobody else after that?" Drake asks with hope in his voice.

"No, there wasn't. I focused all of my time on being a mother to our son. And when you came back…. well, that was a no brainer."

Drake and Beth smile at each other and kiss. When Beth pulls away she wastes no time brining up his sister. "So, Hayley being back is pretty incredible."

"It is" Drake agrees with a smile. "It's amazing. And totally unexpected. People don't come back from the dead." Drake laughs nervously; fully aware that his family thought he was dead not too long ago.

"No, they don't. But people that are alive could be presumed dead, especially when there is no reason to believe that they are still alive."

Drake's nervous laughter turns to sadness and shame, knowing very well what he'd put his family through by letting them think he was dead. "I don't deserve to be this happy, especially after what I put this family through."

"Stop it. We have all made our peace with it. Its time you start forgiving yourself." Beth says as she tries to assure her husband. He gives her a slight smile, but he is still unsure about forgiving himself.

/

Gosalyn and Abby are in their bedroom getting ready for their second day of High School. They haven't said a word to each other since leaving the dinner table the previous night. Gosalyn is putting makeup on while Abby is finishing getting dressed.

"How's your head?" Abby asks as she tries to break the silence.

"It still hurts. But I'm not gonna let it stop me from creaming those eggheads from Yolktown" Gosalyn answers, as she refers to the soccer team that they will be going head to head with today after school.

Abby chuckles at the irony of Gosalyn's comment.

"I'm sorry I told everybody about Zach. That was a really crummy thing to do."

"That's okay. But if you tell them what I've really been up to with Zach I'll have to kill ya. I'm sorry too, about telling them about Torrie."

"I just don't want my Dad going down to the school to yell at Torrie or her parents or Coach. He'll still try to protect me any chance he gets."

"Word" Abby takes her turn at the mirror to finish up her makeup.

"What's the story with Zach? Has he said anything to you about Bailar?" Gosalyn asks as she plops down on her bed to put her shoes on.

"No. I think he wanted to but I kept avoiding him yesterday. I'm not ready to hear him give me the 'let's be friends' speech."

"How could you be friends with someone you've had sex with?" Gosalyn asks as she catches herself laughing.

"I'm not sure it's even possible. Let's just hope he forgets all about me and moves on. No use having the awkward conversation neither one of us wants to have."

Cut to the school hallway when Zach catches up to Abby before she has to get ready for the soccer game. "Abby, could I talk to you?"

Abby is caught off guard. She stares at him for a few seconds before she responds. "Ah, sure."

Zach and Abby start to walk slowly through the halls on the way to the girl's locker room. "I tried to get your attention yesterday. I guess you didn't hear me."

"What? Oh, yeah. First day of school, you know. I guess I was distracted." Abby lies.

"Yeah, I guess the first day can be a little crazy."

Abby wants to get right to the chase. She stops walking and positions herself to stand in front of him. "I know what this is about."

"You do?"

"Yeah, I saw you with your ex-girlfriend." Abby responds with a sad tone in her voice. She is not making eye contact with Zach. She hugs her text books a bit tighter as she starts to tense up.

"Yeah, that's what I wanted to talk to you about. She and I haven't seen each other all summer. We both did some growing up while we were apart and…. well we want to work on our relationship. See if there is something still there, ya know"

Abby nods as she continues to hug her text books tight.

"It sucks, you know. I really thought I was over her. I thought I could… move on and find someone else. That's why I let things go as far as they did with us."

Abby looks up at Zach. He is a few inches taller than her. She feels like a loser, but she refuses to let him know that. She covers by letting out a slight laugh. "Zach, its just sex. I really wasn't expecting anything to happen between us."

"No?"

"No. So it's okay. Go and be with your girlfriend." Abby tells him as she continues to cover how she really feels. She doesn't necessarily have feelings for him, but he seems to feel something for her. She is flattered by this. But now he won't be able to act on those feelings.

"I know this is so cliché, but I want to be friends with you." Zach says as he looks at Abby with hope in his eyes.

"You want to be my friend. How would that even work?" Abby asks as she loosens the grip that she's had on her books. She was dreading this conversation, especially the part about them being friends. But now she feels slightly offended.

"Well, for starters, when we see each other in the halls we can say hello instead of ducking into a class room." Zach responds as he refers to Abby's behavior from the previous day. This makes Abby smile with embarrassment.

"So whaddya say?" Zach asks.

"Okay. I guess we can give it a shot."

/

At the soccer game, Gosalyn is scoring the last goal of the game as time is about to be called. The whistle blows and everyone on the home team starts cheering. The St Canard Hawks have won the game against the Yolktown Yellowsocks 6 to 4. Drake is among the parents standing and applauding. The Hawks run in a circle with their arms out as they celebrate their win. After the opposing team leaves the field, the Hawks gather together and sit in front of the coach in the middle of the field. Some of the girls are expecting to hear praise and positive comments, but the few girls that were on the team last year know better, and brace themselves for the coach's harsh comments. The parents are still hanging out along the sidelines and are able to hear everything that is going on. Some of the parents were also around last year and already know what to expect from the coach.

"Looks like we have our work cut out for ourselves ladies." Coach begins. "What the heck is going on out there? Torrie, you were all over the place out there. You were not following any of the plays that I called for today. Lisa, you were supposed to be covering number 38, not number 42. Abby, you let number 19 get past you four times. I counted. Gosalyn, you scored 4 of the 6 goals for us today. That doesn't excuse the sloppy passes you made to Jenna. And Jenna, you have got to get in front of the ball." Coach yells as she claps her hand into the other. "How many times do I have to say that? Girls! The sloppy mistakes have got to stop. You are all replaceable. Don't forget that. There are many junior varsity players that would do anything to move up to varsity."

The new parents, including Drake, look on with shock and disbelief. They cannot believe that the coach is treating their kids this way.

"I will see you all on Monday promptly after school. You are dismissed."

The girls stand up and walk over to their parents. Drake meets Gosalyn and Abby halfway, hoping to have his chance to talk to the coach.

"Hi Dad." Gosalyn says as he approaches her.

"Hey Gos, wait right here for me okay?"

Drake approaches the coach. "Excuse me, hi, I'm Drake Mallard."

"Gosalyn's father. What do you want?" Coach asks sounding annoyed.

"I couldn't help but notice the way you talk down to these girls. Is it really necessary? I mean they won the game."

"Yes they did win the game. Did they deserve to win? No, probably not." The coach says coldly as she cuts him off.

"That's a bit harsh."

"The girls made a lot of sloppy mistakes out there. The only reason they won the game is because the other team lost. If they want to continue to win, they need to do better. They need to follow direction and they need to have their heads in the game."

Drake looks at the coach in shock. Gosalyn and Abby look at each other, knowing that this isn't going to end well.

"I appreciate that you want these girls to work hard to win games, but I don't appreciate the way that you talked to my kids just now. Gosalyn and Abby…"

"Abby is not your child." The coach cuts him off again as she collects her things.

"Abby is my responsibility." Drake responds firmly. He is not backing down, especially since he is trying to stick up for his girls.

"In that case, you need to make sure she starts to run an extra hour a week."

"What? These girls already run six days a week." Drake responds as he continues on the defensive.

"Abby is the slowest runner on this team right now. She needs to add another hour in order to keep up with these girls and her opponents, otherwise she is out." The coach adds as she picks up her things and walks away. Abby looks outward with shock in her face. She now knows that she is on the chopping block and she will have to improve her game.

Drake walks over to join Gosalyn and Abby. The three of them walk off the field toward the car. "Is she always like this?"

"She wants us to win games Dad. We just have to put up with it."

"So she yells at you like that at every practice." Drake asks in a high pitched voice as he unlocks the car.

"Yep" Gosalyn says as she hops into the front seat of the car. Abby sits in the back and Drake gets behind the wheel and starts the car.

"Is soccer even fun anymore with that kind of negativity?"

"The games are fun." Gosalyn answers as she watches out the window. Drake is not convinced. He glances up to the rear view mirror and notices Abby pouting. He looks over at Gosalyn, her mood doesn't exactly spell excitement. They just won their first varsity soccer game of the season, yet both girls are miserable.

/

Later that evening, Gosalyn and Skyler arrive at Bree's dance studio. She's called a last minute meeting with the dancers to introduce some new people that will be joining their team. Gosalyn notices that Bailar is one of the new dancers. The dancers are sitting down as Bree arrives.

"Good evening everybody. Thank you so much for being here so promptly. We have a few things to cover." As Bree begins, Gosalyn realizes the relief she started to feel the minute she entered the building. Bree is nothing like her soccer coach. She is more relaxed and easy going. Both dance and soccer require extensive training, practice and focus, but Bree and Coach have different approaches when it comes to preparing the teams.

"We have a few new people joining our team this year, and I hope we can work together to make them feel welcome. I'm going to be pairing some of the new dancers with some of our seasoned dancers so that we can create a balance. We have our first competition coming up in a few weeks, and I will be assigning and choreographing dances to feature your strengths. Skyler, I want you and Bailar to work together, and Gosalyn, I want you to work with Javo."

Gosalyn and Skyler look at each other with sadness as Bree matches up the other dance partners. They've been partners since they started dancing, and now they have to work with other people. They hold hands until Bree tells the dancers to meet with their partners and get to know each other.

Skyler walks over to Bailar and they shake hands. Skyler already knows Bailar from school, but they've never talked or hung out. Gosalyn walks over to Javo, and is taken by surprise. He is nineteen years old and oozes with confidence, and he's not bad to look at either. She starts to feel a little intimidated by his presence. She immediately has to hide that since Bree requests that the couples try a few basic Cha Cha Cha steps before they call it a night. A few minutes into their dancing, Gosalyn starts to tense up, and Javo can feel it. "Hey relax, I don't bite." His comment doesn't assure Gosalyn. She continues to feel uneasy about her new partner. She catches herself staring at him. There is definitely an attraction there, and she is doing her darndest to ignore it. Skyler and Bailar are able to connect instantly and start to add a few steps to their dance exercise. They decide to have fun with it. Gosalyn, on the other hand, is not having fun. "It's going to be a long season" she hears herself say in her head.

/

The next day, Beth gets a visitor. It is Jack, the doctor that she was involved with after Drake broke off their engagement. Beth is surprised to see him, but politely invites him in. It is Saturday, so the girls are out for their run and Drake is at work. Christian and Jake are both taking naps.

At the stationhouse, Drake and Taylor are at their desks going through paperwork. They do not have a case to work on at the moment, so they are going through cold cases of missing persons. Taylor comes across one that she'd like them to work on.

"Here's one from two years ago. A twenty two year old mother disappeared after she left work. That's not that long ago so we should still be able to interview witnesses."

"Okay, sold" Drake agrees as he closes the file that he's been reading. At this time, another officer arrives at the station with sandwiches for everyone. Taylor immediately starts to feel sick when she smells the sandwiches and makes a run for it to the nearest bathroom. Drake watches with worry. He's been working with Taylor for a few months now and has developed a fondness for her. He decides to check on her.

He stands outside of the bathroom and waits for a few minutes before he knocks. "Detective, are you okay?"

Taylor doesn't respond, but a few seconds later she emerges. "Sorry about that, that came out of nowhere."

Drake notices that she looks pale. He knows that she ran in there to throw up. He offers to take her home, but she insists that she is fine.

"Detective, you just spent the last 10 minutes in there hurling, and you didn't even eat lunch yet." Drake tries to get through to his partner, but to no avail.

"I'm fine, really. I just can't stand the smell of onions right now." Taylor argues as she starts to feel sick again at the thought of smelling the onions.

"The smell of onions?"

"I'm pregnant." Taylor blurts out. Drake is in shock. He starts to think about who is in her life right now, since she is not known to talk about her personal life that much.

"That guy you brought to my wedding." Drake figures it out.

"Yes, the guy I brought to your wedding. Can we drop it now please? I don't want the department to know about this yet."

"Sure" Drake agrees as they start to walk back to their desks.

Taylor stops outside of their department as she remembers the scent of onions. The other detectives are still eating their sandwiches. "Maybe some fresh air is in order. Let's go interview some witnesses." Drake nods in agreement. He retrieves the file from her desk and both Detectives walk out.

/

At home, Beth has made a pot of coffee for her and Jack. They sit down in the kitchen and talk. Beth is still not sure what he is doing there, but she's never been known to be rude.

"Are you still on staff at Featherstone Hospital?" Beth asks as she tries to uncover the reason for his visit.

"For now. I'm starting to look at other hospitals, maybe come back to Saint Canard General if they'll have me back."

Beth smiles, although it is a fake smile. She has the life that she's always wanted. She's not exactly thrilled with the prospect of having her ex in her face while she's at work. She keeps her feelings to herself and sips her coffee.

"How's Jake doing?" Jack asks in an attempt to break the silence.

"He's getting so big, and smart. Drake and I are so proud of him." Beth glows with joy as she thinks about her son.

Jack considers his next words before he speaks, because once he says what he wants to say, there is no going back. "Is he mine, Beth?"

Beth is surprised that Jack is asking this question. "No, Jack. I was already pregnant when you and I got involved. You know that."

"Actually, I don't know that. And now I am asking."

"Why are you doing this?" Beth asks him as she gets upset. She stands up and takes a few steps away from the table. She crosses her arms to express how uncomfortable this conversation is making her feel.

"Because I need to. If that boy is mine…"

"He is not yours!" Beth snaps back as she turns around to look at him. Jack is also standing and walks over to be in front of her.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you. That is not why I came here." Jack says as he takes a calmer approach.

"Then why did you come here?" Beth asks. At this moment, Gosalyn and Abby arrive home, but Beth does not hear them. As Jack moves in and kisses Beth, the girls open the kitchen door and see them kissing. They don't make a sound, they are both stunned, afraid to move or say anything. Gosalyn snaps out of it and quietly pushes Abby away from the kitchen door.


	3. Ch 3 Unwelcome Advances

In chapter 2 we were introduced to the girls' soccer coach and her rough approach when it comes to coaching. We met Gosalyn's new dance partner Javo, who Gosalyn may or may not be attracted to. We also briefly met Jack, the man that Beth dated after Drake broke off their engagement. He came back to town and he wants something, and that is Beth. We left off with Gosalyn and Abby catching them kissing in the kitchen.

After the girls leave, Beth quickly pulls away from the kiss and slaps Jack so hard that he has to hold onto his face. He is surprised by her reaction to him kissing her. He thought he could come back into her life and win her over, but it's not going to be as easy as he thought.

"Ow, why'd you hit me?" He asks as he holds his face.

"How dare you! How dare you come into my house and disrespect my marriage that way. You ought to be ashamed of yourself." Beth angrily scolds. But Jack isn't going to easily back down.

"We had something Beth. And we can have something again. I could feel it when I kissed you."

Beth tries to slap him again but he grabs her hand to stop her. "No use trying to fight it. After all, we are connected for life."

"What are you talking about?" Beth asks as she pulls her hand out of his grip.

"We have a son" Jack says with a sly look on his face.

"We do not have a son. Jake is Drake's son, not yours." Beth shoots back with more anger in her voice.

"We will see about that. I want a DNA test."

"You can't be serious." Beth says as she starts to clear the table of their coffee cups and the cream and sugar.

"What's the matter? Are you afraid that I'm right and that Jake is mine?" Jack asks as he continues to press her.

Beth takes a minute to think about her next words to Jack. She turns around and looks at him, at the same time mustering as much confidence as she can. "Jake is mine and Drake's son. And if a DNA test is what it will take for you to back off….."

"You'll do it?" Jack asks with hope in his voice.

Beth nods "If it will get you to drop this crazy notion that Jake is your son, yeah I'll do it. I need to talk to Drake about it first."

"Talk to him today" Jack orders as he starts to leave. "I want this test done tomorrow. Then we'll know the truth."

As Beth watches Jack leave, she begins to worry about the possibility of him being right. All this time, she assumed that Drake got her pregnant. There was no reason for her to think otherwise. The timing made sense. She was pregnant before she got involved with Jack. But what if the doctors were wrong about that? She closes the front door and lets out a nervous sigh. She sinks down until she is sitting on the ground and pulls her knees to her chest.

/

Gosalyn and Abby quickly retreat to their bedroom after spotting Beth and Jack kissing. They are not sure what to think. Both girls assumed that Drake and Beth were happily married.

"Abby, did you see what I just saw in the kitchen?" Gosalyn asks as she puts her back up against her door, preventing anyone else from coming into their room.

"You mean Beth kissing that guy? Yeah I saw that. Who is that guy anyway?"

"I remember seeing him before. I think Beth went out with him a few years ago. What's he doing here?" Gosalyn asks as she starts to get upset.

"Do you think Beth is cheating on your Dad?" Abby asks as she sits on her bed.

Gosalyn starts to pace as she thinks about the past few days, few weeks, few months. Did she miss something? Did they all miss something? "No, she wouldn't do that. Would she?" Gosalyn ponders this some more. She's known Beth for a few years now. But how well does she know her?

/

Drake arrives home and finds Beth upset. She quickly rushes into his arms and he holds her for a few minutes. As he continues to hold her, he calmly questions her about her current emotional state.

"Honey, what's wrong. Are the kids okay?"

Beth waits a few seconds before pulling out of his arms. She has tears in her eyes. "Um, Jack was here."

"Jack, that doctor from the hospital? The Jack that you dated? That Jack?" Drake asks as his calmness is replaced by dreaded fear and curiosity.

Beth nods as she wipes away tears. "Well clearly he upset you. What happened? What did he say to you?" Drake asks as he leads Beth over to the couch to sit down.

"Well, um he kissed me."

"What?" Drake starts to get angry as Beth continues.

"I slugged him, I yelled at him for disrespecting my marriage that way."

"That's my girl" Drake smiles as he pictures his wife slugging the man.

"I wanted him to leave, but then he said something else to me."

Drake waits for his wife to continue her story. Beth knows what she wants to say to Drake, but she has a hard time getting the words out. She knows that this is going to hurt him, especially if it turns out to be true. She thinks back to her wedding vows. For better, for worse. She promised to be honest with him. This definitely constitutes a time for the worse. She knows that she has to tell him. "He wants us to run a paternity test on Jake."

"What? Why?" Drake thinks about it before he says his next words to Beth. "Honey…. Sweetie..." Drake tries to get Beth to look at him. "Is it any way possible that…Jake…. is" Before Drake finishes his question, Beth nods as her eyes fill with more tears. She starts to cry. Drake holds her and tries to comfort her in the best way that he can, considering the fear and anger that has started to emerge inside of him.

/

Back in the girls' room, Gosalyn and Abby are still discussing Beth and the man in the kitchen.

"Are you going to tell your Dad?" Abby asks. Gosalyn stops pacing and looks up at her. Of course she should tell him. If Beth is cheating on him, he is a right to know. But on the other hand, what if they are wrong? What if this is just a big misunderstanding. They would be getting Drake and Beth upset over nothing. But what if something is going on and they don't do anything to stop it? Gosalyn is torn.

"What if it's nothing? What if we misinterpreted what we saw?" Gosalyn tries to look at it a different way, but there is no use.

"Yeah right! They were kissing. There is no mistake about that. They couldn't have just fallen into each others' beaks." Abby responds as Gosalyn continues to think about the situation she is in. She wishes she never saw Beth kissing that guy. She loves her Dad and Beth, but when it comes down to it, her loyalty lies with her Dad. She knows that she can't keep this a secret.

/

In the family room, Drake and Beth sit in silence. Her head is rested on his chest and his arm is around her, rubbing her arm up and down. After a few minutes of this, Drake calms down, and thinks about his life right now. He is married to the love of his life. He has a daughter, who is really his niece. He has a son, who may or may not be his biologically. He has two foster children. He decides that he has to take care of his family, no matter what Jake's paternity test proves. His thoughts are interrupted when Jake emerges from the steps. He just woke up from his nap.

"Daddy?"

Drake and Beth look up at their son and are happy to see him. Drake walks over to him and picks him up. He is still in a sleepy mood so he rests his head on Drake's shoulder. Drake rubs his back and looks back at Beth. She has a hopeful look on her face. "Everything is going to be okay." Drake tries to assure his wife.

Gosalyn and Abby walk down the steps and join the family. Drake turns around to greet them. "Hey girls, um Trina is going to be here in a few minutes to pick you up. Gosalyn I hope you don't mind but I asked her to drop you off at your rehearsal.

Gosalyn decides this is not a good time to discuss Beth and the guy she was kissing. She nods in agreement and walks back up the stairs to get ready for rehearsal.

/

At rehearsal, Gosalyn is dancing for Javo. She is gracefully gliding across the floor, performing a beautiful ballad. He is watching intently with his arms crossed. Javo is a professional dancer. He has danced since the time he could walk, studying with schools in England and New York City. Gosalyn has no idea what he is doing at The Art of Bree Dance Company in Saint Canard. Bree is great, but the studio is considered to be a very small fish in a big sea of professional schools. These thoughts in her head start to affect her dancing, and she is not as balanced and centered as she'd like to be. She starts to feel his eyes on her, which makes her more nervous. She stumbles in her fouette turn and stops dancing. She stands there for a few seconds and stares at Javo, waiting for him to say something. He doesn't speak. Instead, he joins her and the two start dancing the ballad together.

Gosalyn is very intense as she follows his lead. She is very intimidated by him. Not only for his experience, but also for his stunningly good looks. She does her best to fight the attraction that she is starting to feel. She has a boyfriend, Skyler. She can't be attracted to someone else. Can she?

"Relax" Javo finally says as he adjusts Gosalyn's shoulders and arms. She looks up at his face. Her expression is that of a child in school that has just answered the question incorrectly. They continue to dance, and Gosalyn continues to feel intense. Her tension is obvious in her dancing. She feels the need to impress him, to have is acceptance. But the tension in her body is not allowing her to perform to the best of her ability. As her dance partner, he can feel this. He turns her and pulls her into a hold with her back to him, and gropes the top of her leg. Gosalyn is frozen. She has no idea what to do. This is wrong, very wrong. But she doesn't stop him. She is in shock, but quickly tries to hide it as they continue to dance.

/

Drake and Gosalyn are in the car together. He had picked her up from rehearsal and they are on their way home. She is quiet, which is very unusual. Gosalyn would usually talk Drake's ear off any time she had the opportunity to spend alone time with him. But tonight is different. She has a lot on her mind. Drake has some things on his mind too, but he puts that aside for now. He notices that his daughter is quiet. In fact, she hasn't said a word to him since he picked her up.

"Something on your mind, kiddo?" He asks her. She doesn't answer him right away, but she wants to. Anytime something bothers her, she's able to talk to her Dad about it. But this time is different. She does not want to talk about Javo. She doesn't even want to think about him, but her mind keeps reverting back to the moment that he groped her leg. She immediately pushes those thoughts aside and goes right to the other topic that has been bothering her, Beth.

"Dad, I have something to tell you." Gosalyn finally answers him. Her voice full of regret for what she is about to say. "I saw Beth kissing some guy in the kitchen today."

Drake continues to stare ahead at the road as they approach the bridge to the Saint Canard suburbs. His eye twitches at the thought of his wife with another man. Gosalyn worries about her father. "Dad?"

"It's okay, I already know." Drake says calmly. "I don't want you to worry, okay? Beth and I are fine."

Gosalyn wasn't expecting this reaction. She is confused. "Wait, she told you she kissed another guy, and you're fine with it?"

"If you need to know the details, Jack kissed her and she didn't want him to. She slugged him and told him to leave."

"Oh" Gosalyn sits frozen in her seat. On some level she is relieved to hear that Beth wasn't cheating on her father. She also feels bad for having bad feelings toward Beth, assuming the worst before finding out what really happened.

"Look I appreciate you telling me about this." Drake continues "I know it couldn't have been easy for you."

Gosalyn puts on a fake grin for her father. "I've got your back Dad."

"And I have yours, you know that right?" Drake asks as he glances over at her.

"Yeah, I know."

"So if something else is bothering you, would you tell me about it?"

"Of course" Gosalyn lies.

/

The next day, Drake and Beth take Jake to the hospital for the paternity test. They don't tell Jake why they are there, so he is nervous. He thinks he is there to get a shot. He doesn't willingly walk into the hospital, so Beth carries him. They meet up with Dr Wright who will conduct the test and make sure that the samples and results are kept secure.

"Good morning Doctor." Drake greets the doctor and shakes his hand.

"Good morning. I have everything set up, so whenever you're ready…"

"Thanks" Drake and the doctor walk ahead of Beth and Jake. "Uh, listen, I told my son that we were bringing him here for a checkup. So, can you just play along, you know, check his pulse, his temperature…."

"You got it" The doctor smiles as he leads the family into the exam room. Beth sits Jake on the table and climbs up to next to him. He moans and starts to wine about wanting to leave.

"Doctor, can you please tell our son that there are no shots today?" Beth asks as she tries to keep Jake next to her.

"No shots today kiddo. Just a routine checkup" The doctor says as he gets his stethoscope ready. He does what Drake asks and listens to his heart, checks his pulse, checks his temperature and his reflexes. The last thing he does is swab his mouth for DNA. After he is finished, Beth takes Jake to the cafeteria for a snack as the doctor takes Drake's DNA.

"How long for the results Doc?" Drake nervously asks.

"If you want to hang out for a while I can have them back here in an hour"

"Okay, yes, yes let's do it" Drake nods as he breaks eye contact with the Doctor. He is jittery. He is so scared that the tests will show that Jake isn't his son. He decides to join his family in the cafeteria and wait for the results.

/

Gosalyn and Skyler take in an afternoon movie in down town Saint Canard. Gosalyn is looking forward to it. She is hoping that spending time with her boyfriend will help her forget about Javo. They take their seats as the movie begins. They share popcorn and a soda. A few scenes into the movie, Skye reaches over and rests his hand on Gosalyn's leg. On an ordinary date, Gosalyn would welcome the gesture, but today is different. After what happened with Javo, she is very uneasy about anyone touching her on her leg. She covers her discomfort by taking Skye's hand and holding it in hers. He smiles at her and they continue to watch the movie.

/

After an hour of drinking milkshakes, it is time for Drake and Beth to meet with Dr Wright to hear the results of Jake's paternity test. Beth decides to leave Jake with a co-worker. They arrive at Dr Wright's office and sit in the chairs in front of his desk. Dr Wright sits in his chair and places the file on his desk. He is ready to share the results. Drake and Beth are now more nervous than ever as they hold hands.


	4. Ch 4 When It's Wrong

As Drake and Beth await the test results in Dr Wright's office, they are interrupted by his receptionist. There is an emergency and he has to leave for a few minutes. He excuses himself and takes the file with him. Drake and Beth sit and wait in his office in silence. They are still holding hands. Each of them is nervous about the outcome. Each worries that nothing will be the same. Their thoughts are interrupted when Jack arrives. Drake and Beth stand to face him.

"What are you doing here?" Beth asks him angrily.

"Look Sweetheart, I have as much of a right to be here as that guy."

"That guy is my husband. And no matter what this test proves, nothing is going to change that." Beth says as she defends her marriage. Drake looks at his wife with pride in his eyes.

"You say that now Beth, but just wait. When that test proves that Jake is mine…."

"Just back off, alright?" Drake interrupts. "You shouldn't even be here. This is a very private matter, a matter that you were not invited to."

"I have a right to be here. Not only as a doctor on staff at this hospital, but…"

"What?" Beth interrupts. "You're on staff here now?"

"Effective today. Don't look so surprised, Beth. I told you I was looking into it."

"Yes, you did. But I didn't think you would actually accept a position here again." Beth responds as she crosses her arms. She begins to pace in the small space that is Dr Wright's office.

"Well you thought wrong." Jack responds proudly. "I'm a different person now Elizabeth. I'm not the same person that crawled out of town five years ago when you broke things off. I know what I want and I am not giving up so easily."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Drake asks as he gets in Jack's face. "What exactly are you hoping to accomplish here? You think you can come between me and my wife? Break up our marriage? Think again because it's not going to happen."

Jack just laughs it off. Drake is still in his face, his expression oozing with anger. Beth is standing behind Drake, her arms still crossed. She is absolutely dreading this. Her husband and her ex-boyfriend facing off is not something she ever expected to see. She wants to intervene, but she is frozen where she stands.

"Oh yeah, Beth's got herself a real man now. If your marriage is so solid, you wouldn't be standing here trying to defend it. You wouldn't be standing three feet away from each other worrying about some guy coming between you. But what do I know, right? I'm just the guy who lost the girl five years ago."

"You're pathetic. Chasing after something you can't have." Drake responds as he reclaims his confidence. "I actually feel sorry for you. You had to use our child as a way of getting to my wife. And when that doesn't work, what will your next move be, huh? Are you going to feign mental illness just to get close to her? Act a little crazy just to become her patient? Just how far are you willing to go to immerse yourself in her life, Dr Crazy?"

Jack takes a swing at Drake.

"No! Jack!" Beth screams as she holds her face in her hands in shock. Drake's extensive police training allows him to block his swing as he takes his own swing at Jack. Jack falls to the floor and holds his face where Drake struck him. He looks up at the couple in shock. Beth steps up behind Drake and wraps her arms around his waist. He returns the gesture by putting his hand on top of hers.

Dr Wright returns to his office with the file and finds Jack on the floor. He closes the door and looks up at the Mallards. "I guess I don't need to ask what this is about." Dr Wright takes his position behind his desk as Jack slowly stands.

"If you could please excuse us Dr Dawson, I have an appointment with Drake and Beth that I'd like to finish." Dr Wright requests as he slaps the file on his desk. Drake and Beth both stare at the file as though it were about to disappear.

"Dr Wright, this concerns me just as much as it concerns these two." Jack tries to defend his position.

"Actually it doesn't" Dr Wright retorts. "This is an appointment that was set up by Drake and Beth. You are not a family member nor are you a consultant in this matter. So I suggest you leave before I inform the chief of staff of your behavior in my office."

Jack is outraged. He continues to hold his face. "What? He hit me. Did you not see me on the floor when you walked in here?"

"Yes, believe I did see you on the floor. However I find it hard to believe that Detective Mallard here would take the first swing. Am I right?" Doctor Wright argues. Jack doesn't respond. Rather then press the matter further, he leaves and shuts the door behind him.

"I'm sorry Dr Wright." Drake says softly.

"No need to apologize." Dr Wright says as he takes his seat behind his desk. Drake and Beth sit down in their chairs as well and proceed to hold hands again. "I know that this is a complicated and delicate matter, and Dr Dawson had no right to show up here and make things worse. Unfortunately as a doctor on staff he had access to see when you would be coming in for this appointment. But, I can assure you that he did not have any access to the test samples or the results. I personally hand delivered them to the lab and waited as the technician ran the tests."

"We really appreciate you taking special care and handling this so professionally." Beth says as she crosses one leg over the other. Drake and Beth begin to feel nervous again as they prepare to hear the results of Jake's DNA test.

"That's what I do Beth. Shall we?" Dr Wright asks as he prepares to open the file.

"Yes please." Beth responds as she starts to grip Drake's hand a little tighter.

/

Down town St Canard, Gosalyn and Skyler are walking away from the theater toward his apartment where he lives with Launchpad, Gwen and Bree. He and Gosalyn are holding hands. For the first time in hours, Gosalyn is feeling at ease as she spends quality time with her boyfriend. This comfort quickly fades when he brings up the subject of dance.

"I've gotta admit. I was very skeptical when Aunt Bree decided to pair us with other people for the season. But after working with Bailar, I kinda see where she is going with this." Skye says as he looks down at Gosalyn.

"What do you mean?" Gosalyn asks as she tries to hide her discomfort.

"I mean she's trying to expand on our talents. She's forcing us to be creative and learn from each other. Don't get me wrong. I love being your dance partner. It's comfortable and it's one of the things I love about dancing. But I feel like dancing with Bailar has challenged me. She's teaching me things, and I'm teaching her things. What about you?"

Gosalyn is pulled out of her daze as she looks up at Skye. "Huh?" She asks as though she weren't paying attention.

"You and Javo. How are things going with you two? I mean he's this big time professional dancer in our little town and he's dancing with you. That's gotta be a little intimidating."

"It is. I mean what's he even doing here anyway?" Gosalyn asks as they continue to walk hand in hand. "He's studied in England and New York City. Doesn't it seem a little odd to you that he would pick Saint Canard as his next venture?"

"Extremely. I don't get it either. But while he's here we might as well take advantage and learn what we can from him. You know?" Skye responds as he looks down at Gosalyn again. She doesn't answer him. "Gosalyn?"

"Huh?" Gosalyn snaps out of her daze again. "Yeah, sure."

"You okay?" Skye asks as they slow their pace. "You seem a little distracted."

"I'm fine. I'm just tired, you know. Late rehearsal last night, early run with the team this morning…." Gosalyn does her best to cover what is really going on.

"You sure that's all it is?" Skye asks has he faces her and holds both of her hands.

"I'm sure" Gosalyn responds before she kisses him. A few seconds later they each pull away. Skye is satisfied with her excuse and lets it go. They continue to walk toward his apartment, where Drake and Beth will pick her up after their appointment.

/

Back at the hospital, Drake and Beth anxiously wait for Dr Wright to read the results to them. They watch as he opens the file and begins to read the information to himself. He puts the file down and removes his glasses. He folds his hands and looks up at the nervous couple. "I am happy to report that Jake is without a doubt your son, Detective."

Drake and Beth each let out a sigh of relief. They catch each other smiling with tears in their eyes. Dr Wright can't help but tear up as well as he watches them kiss.

/

Later in the afternoon, Gosalyn approaches Beth in the kitchen. Beth is cooking dinner for herself, Drake, Jake, Hayley and MacKena. Trina will be spending time with Christian while the girls spend some time at the mall.

"Dad said you wanted to see me." Gosalyn says as she slowly walks into the kitchen.

Beth looks up at her and smiles as she sets the table. "Yes I did. Your Dad told me that you saw me kissing Jack yesterday."

Gosalyn starts to feel uncomfortable, and a little embarrassed. It is bad enough that she had to admit to her father what she saw, but now she is being confronted by her stepmom with what she saw. She breaks eye contact with Beth. "I guess he told you I ratted you out."

"It's not like that, Sweetie. He knows it upset you. And I want you to know that you could've come talk to me about it. You can still talk to me about it." Beth says as she tries to put Gosalyn at ease.

"I know, I'm sorry. I just didn't want to believe that you would fool around with some guy behind Dad's back. And when I saw you two kissing….. I didn't know what to believe." Gosalyn says as she continues to avoid looking at Beth.

Beth pulls out a chair and sits down. She pulls out the chair next to her and Gosalyn sits down. "I don't have to tell you that things get more and more complicated as you get older. I think you already know that. Things get even more complicated when people are not honest with each other. My biggest advice to you is… always be honest with the people you love. No matter how difficult it is. It only makes your relationships stronger and more trustworthy."

Gosalyn ponders Beth's words for a minute. She thinks about how she felt when she saw Beth and Jack kissing. She also thinks about her growing attraction toward Javo, and how she felt when he groped her leg. She wants to tell somebody, but she is not quite ready to do that. She thinks about how things may have been different, had she just talked to Beth about the kiss rather than torture herself with the idea that Beth was cheating on her Dad. She finally looks into Beth's eyes.

"I'm sorry I didn't come to you first." She begins. "I guess I got the wrong idea and I immediately jumped to the wrong conclusion. I don't want to see my Dad hurt."

"Neither do I." Beth responds softly. "I love your father and I would never cheat on him. You know that right?"

"Yeah, sure." Gosalyn agrees as she looks down at her lap. She is not very convincing. This doesn't sit well with Beth.

Drake slowly approaches the kitchen. "Hey, sorry to interrupt but Trina is here to take the girls to the mall."

Gosalyn and Beth both stand to face him. Drake can see that he has walked in on an intense conversation. "Is everything okay in here?"

Gosalyn quickly changes her mood for her father's sake. "Everything's great. Bye Dad." Drake kisses Gosalyn's head as she walks past him and leaves the kitchen. He watches after her as Beth slowly sinks down in her seat again.

Drake walks over to her and sits where Gosalyn was just seated. He observes his wife for a few seconds. "You're not a good liar Beth. That didn't go well, did it?"

"No, it didn't." Beth answers him. "While I was talking to her I had this overwhelming feeling of déjà vu."

"What do you mean?" Drake asks her as he takes one of her hands in his on the table.

"I feel like I'm back to where I was five years ago when I first met her. When you and I started to get serious, she wasn't receptive of me at all. I had to win her over."

"Yeah, I remember." Drake says calmly. "But what's that got to do with what's happening now?"

"Drake, our daughter saw her father's new wife kissing another man in our kitchen. That's not a vision she's gonna forget about anytime soon. In that split second I lost all credibility I had with her."

Drake continues to hold Beth's hand but looks away from her for a few seconds. "Did you explain to her that things are not what they seem?"

"Yes, but I don't think she believed me." Beth answers him as she gets more upset.

"I'll talk to her"

"No" Beth protests. "No, it's okay. This is my problem and I need to handle it."

"No, we will handle it together." Drake corrects her as he takes her other hand in his. "And Honey, it's not a problem, okay? It's a bump in the road. We will explain to Gosalyn that we are happy in our marriage and that Jack was messing with the wrong couple."

Beth starts to feel better and manages to smile at her husband. He smiles back. "Are we okay?" He asks her.

"We're great" She answers him as she starts to kiss him. Drake holds her face and returns the kiss.

/

At the mall, Gosalyn watches as Abby has two red streaks added to her long black locks. When the stylist is finished, Abby looks in the mirror and is happy with what she sees.

"This turned out better than I thought." She says as she observes her new look. "What do you think?"

"It's hip. But I doubt your Mom will think so." Gosalyn answers as she looks through a style magazine.

"So what?" Abby shoots back as she pays the stylist. "It's my hair and I can do what I want with it. Now quit stalling and tell me about Beth."

"What about her?" Gosalyn tries to avoid the conversation.

"Duh, about the kiss we saw. She asked you about it, didn't she?"

"She might have." Gosalyn says as they walk through the mall.

"Well, what did she say?" Abby asks as she starts to get annoyed.

"She said that she's not cheating on Dad." Gosalyn finally answers the question as she looks at some earrings in one of the stores.

"You don't believe her"

"I don't know" Gosalyn says sadly. "Abby, do you think it's possible to love someone, but be attracted to someone else?" At this point, Gosalyn is not only thinking about Beth, but also about her situation with Skyler and Javo.

"I don't know" Abby shrugs her shoulders. "Why, do you think Beth's attracted to that guy?"

"I don't know. I just don't think that I have room to judge when I…."

"When you, what?" Abby asks

Gosalyn hesitates before she answers. "When I know nothing about the situation she's in."

Gosalyn is saved from further explanation as Abby spots Skyler at the mall. "Hey, is that Skyler?"

Gosalyn turns to look and sees her boyfriend walking the mall.

"Did you know he was going to be here?" Abby asks.

"No, I didn't. Come on, let's go say hi."

Gosalyn eagerly grabs Abby's arm but Abby pulls away when she notices the guy that Skyler is with.

"Hey, who's that cute boy over there?" She asks Gosalyn as she smiles.

"What boy?"

"That boy walking next to him, the guy with the red hair." Abby points him out.

"What, you mean Tank? Abby, that's Tank, Honker's brother. Did you just call him cute?"

"I sure did" Abby says as she continues to stare at Tank.

Gosalyn is disgusted. "Ugh, you have got to be kidding me."

"Look, I know he's not cute to you. You grew up living next door to him. He's like your brother or something." Abby defends her position.

"Abby, you can't be serious. I mean Tank, really?"

"Didn't you want to go say hi to your boyfriend?" Abby asks as she tries to change the subject.

Gosalyn and Abby make their way over to Skyler and Tank. Skyler is happy to see his girlfriend and promptly gives her a hug. Tank and Abby look at each other. Abby does her best to hide the fact that she was checking Tank out. But Tank is checking her out too.

"Cool hair." Tank says to Abby as Gosalyn and Skye pull away from their hug.

"Thanks. I'm Abby." She says as she holds out her hand. Tank accepts her hand and shakes it.

"Yeah, I know. You're friends with my brother Honker."

"I didn't know you two hung out. When did that start?" Gosalyn asks Skye.

"Coach paired us up for drills this season. At first I thought he was out of his mind, having us work together." Skye explains.

"Yeah, I mean what could I possibly have in common with this intellectual geek?" Tank jokes. Gosalyn gives him a dirty look. She doesn't find his comment humorous.

Skye smiles and puts his arm around Gosalyn. "And what could I possibly gain by teaming up with this indolent pompous ass."

Tank turns to look at Abby "Turns out we work pretty good together."

"Well" Gosalyn corrects as she glares at Tank. This time Tank gives her a dirty look before he continues. "Coach even started planning his plays around us. He's giving us a chance to lead first string."

"Great" Abby says as she smiles at Tank. He smiles back. "Do you play?" He asks her.

"What?" Abby asks him.

"Do you play soccer?"

"Yes, I'm on varsity with Gosalyn." She answers, feeling foolish for not understanding what he was asking her.

"Cool. You know we should check out each other's games sometime." Tank suggests as he looks at Skyler and Gosalyn. "Maybe we can, you know, hang out."

"Yeah, maybe" Abby shyly agrees. Gosalyn releases herself from under Skye's arm and decides that it's time to go.

"We should get going." Gosalyn grabs Abby's arm and attempts to pull her away.

"I guess I'll be seeing you." Tank says in a flirting tone. This makes Abby smile more. She doesn't respond but she keeps eye contact with Tank. After a few seconds Gosalyn finally manages to get Abby to leave. Skye and Tank watch them walk away.

"Dude, what was that?" Skye asks Tank. Tank stops watching Abby and turns to face Skye.

"What was what?" Tank asks, acting oblivious to what had just happened.

"Since when are you interested in taking up a girl's varsity soccer game? You could care less about any high school game that you are not participating in."

"I like soccer." Tank tries to deflect what Skye is about to accuse him of.

"You like girls. You like many girls at a time. And I'm not judging you, but when you set your sights on a friend of mine I have to intervene."

"Intervene all you want bro, but if Abby wants to hang out with me, you can't stop her." Tank says.

"No I can't. Look you and I have become good friends over the past few weeks. Which definitely came out of left field. Abby is a good friend of mine too. And she's been through a lot. So if you break her heart, I break your face. You got it?" Skye warns in a serious tone.

"Dude, lighten up." Tank says with a smile. "Look if it's that important to you, I won't pursue her, alright?"

"Really?"

"Yeah. Now let's hit the food court. I'm starving." Tank says as he walks past Skye.

/

The next day at school, Gosalyn approaches Abby at her locker. She is smiling like she hasn't smiled in a long time. Gosalyn notices this and immediately worries about her friend.

"What are you smiling about?"

"Am I smiling? I am aren't I?" She says as she closes her locker.

"Yeah, and it's creeping me out. So do you mind telling me what's going on?" Gosalyn asks her friend.

"What, I can't just be happy for no reason?"

"It's just completely unexpected. I mean your Mom and my Dad both chewed you out for messing with your hair and Coach made you do extra push ups in gym class. Not to mention the killer test we have in World History today." Gosalyn lists the things that Abby should be unhappy about at the present time. But Abby just brushes it off.

"Well, I like the way my hair is. And I don't care about what Coach says or does. And Gos, we studied for this test, we're ready for it." As Gosalyn and Abby start walking the halls, someone knocks into Abby, causing her to drop her books. The girls watch as the boy keeps running in the other direction. Tank sees this and runs over to Abby. He gets on the ground and starts to pick up her books. Abby looks down and sees him doing this. She is amazed, and appreciative.

"Here you go" Tank says after he stands to hand over her books.

Abby smiles at him while Gosalyn rolls her eyes. "Thanks"

"Are you okay? Did he hurt you?" Tank asks her as he touches her arm. Abby feels an instant spark as she feels his hand on her arm. This makes her nervous, but she does her best to cover.

"I'm okay. Um, just some rude kid, he was obviously in a hurry."

"Don't worry, I'll set him straight." Tank says as he looks in the direction where the boy ran off.

"You don't have to do that."

"That kid needs to learn some manners. You don't just go running into a lady, knock her books out of her hands and run off." Tank explains.

"There are other ways to teach someone manners that doesn't involve bullying, Tank" Gosalyn interrupts.

"Stay out of this, Mallard." Tank says without looking at Gosalyn.

"Thanks, I appreciate you wanting to defend my honor, but maybe you can do that another way." Abby says, hoping her words came out with confidence.

"I'm listening" Tank says

"You said we can hang out sometime. So, how 'bout we hang out sometime tonight, you know after soccer practice." Abby asks as she slowly twists her body right to left.

"You got it" Tank accepts with a smile. "You know, there's this new pizza joint that opened a few days ago. Why don't we check it out?"

"That would be cool. So see you around seven?"

"See you at seven" Tank confirms. Gosalyn just watches with disbelief, as Tank and Abby continue to smile at each other.

/

Drake and Taylor are driving around town in their patrol car. They have been interviewing witnesses all day for a cold case that they are working on. They are trying to find missing young mother Teresa Clover. Taylor has been doing her best to hide the fact that she is feeling sick. Drake can sense that something is wrong and decides to ask her about it.

"You alright Detective?"

"I'm fine. I just thought we would have more information by now that could lead us to Teresa." Taylor says as she puts her hand on her forehead.

Drake is not convinced. "You don't have to lie to me, you know. If you're feeling sick, why don't you just tell me that?"

Taylor releases her hand from her forehead and angrily looks in Drake's direction. "Fine, I'm feeling sick, okay? I'm nauseous, I'm tired, I'm bloated and I'm extremely irritated that I won't have any control over my body for the next five months. Happy?"

"Can we add hormonal to the list?" Drake tries to make light of the situation, but Taylor does not find him amusing. Drake continues trying. "I'm sorry. I'm not trying to make fun of you. I just want you to see that I am not uncomfortable with talking about your pregnancy. And I don't want you to be either."

"Noted"

"I'm serious" Drake continues. "We are going to be spending a lot of time together during your pregnancy and I don't think it's necessary for you to avoid talking about it."

Taylor is impressed, but she doesn't allow Drake to be fully aware of it. "Well, then I'll be sure to tell you about every sneeze, every hiccup and ever nail I break during the course of the next five months. That sound good to you?"

Drake chuckles as he keeps his eyes on the road. "Sounds great." His phone rings and he reaches to answer it without taking his eyes off the road. He knows that it is Hayley since he had a specific ring tone set for her calls.

"What's up Hayles?"

Hayley asks him to pick up her daughter at daycare since her meeting is going to run late. Drake agrees.

/

Tank and Abby are getting to know each other at the new pizza restaurant in town. They both order the usual, soda and a few slices of pizza.

"Um, the pizza's good here." Abby says after she takes a few bites of her pizza.

Tank wants to impress her, so he doesn't stuff his face with pizza like he normally would. "I need to tell you something"

"What is it?" Abby asks as she sips her soda.

"Skyler said I should be careful with you. Is there a reason why he would do that?"

Abby pauses for a moment, straw still in her mouth. She thinks about what she wants to say. She doesn't want to tell him everything on their first date. She might scare him off. "He was just looking out for me. Kind of sweet if you think about it."

"Yeah, I guess" Tank says as he takes another bite of his pizza.

"Don't worry about Skye, okay? We're here to get to know each other, right?"

"Right" Tank agrees with a smile.

/

At the Mallard house, Launchpad is there with Drake, MacKena and Jake. They are sitting on the family room floor playing with big Lego blocks. Launchpad doesn't get to spend a lot of time with Drake so he takes this opportunity to share his fears of fathering triplets.

"I think you and Gwen are going to be great parents. I don't think you should worry about it Pal." Drake tries to talk to his friend.

"Yeah, but there's going to be three of them. Three versus two. Those aren't very good odds." Launchpad argues as he helps Jake with his tower.

"You worry now, but when you first see them and you first hold them, all of this worry and anxiety is going to go straight out the window. Not to sound profound, but all the love you have for them is going to take precedence over your fears."

"You think?"

"I know" Drake corrects him. "I never told anyone this, but I felt a lot of anxiety when I first looked into adopting Gosalyn. There were a few interviews, some paperwork, some background checks, and each step just kept making me feel worse. But when I walked into that orphanage and she charged into me and knocked me off my feet, any anxiety I felt about becoming a parent was gone. I just saw her face and I knew that everything was going to be okay."

"But, not to sound profound or anything" Launchpad says with sarcasm.

"Right"

The news broadcast on the television catches their attention. There is an accident on Audubon Bay Bridge that connects the city to the suburbs.

"I better call the kids, and Beth and Hayley" Drake immediately gets to his feet and calls his family members. All of them are currently in the city. Beth and Hayley are working, Abby is on her date with Tank and Gosalyn is at rehearsal. He rejoins the ducks after he confirms that they are all okay.

"Is everything okay?" Launchpad asks as he continues to help Jake with his tower.

"Yeah, I wanted to make sure that they weren't in this mess. The bad news is they aren't going to be home anytime soon and you are stuck here for a while my friend."

"I guess there are worse places to be stuck in" Launchpad says as Drake gives him a look. As Drake sits on the floor with them he notices an odor coming from his niece. Launchpad notices it too. "Uh oh, looks like someone needs a diaper change."

"Hayley told me not to change her, but it could be hours before she gets back here." Drake says has he stands up again. "MacKena, why don't we go upstairs for a few minutes, okay?"

MacKena stands and immediately realizes that she's filled her diaper. She gets upset and starts to cry. Drake gently picks her up and carries her up the stairs.

This is the first time that his niece has been left in his care for more than five minutes. She is not comfortable with him yet. She's only comfortable with her mother and a few teachers at her day care. She gets more upset as he lays her on the changing table. Drake tries to calm her down by singing to her. He figures if it worked for Jake it should work for MacKena too. He's right, because as he sings to her, she tones down her crying. However, as he starts to clean her up she lifts her bottom in pain and starts to cry again. Drake notices that she has a bad rash and tries to be more gentile. After he cleans her up, he grabs a tube of cream that they use for Christian when he has bad rashes. Drake continues to sing to her as he rubs the cream on her and puts her in a new diaper. She calms down and allows him to put pajamas on her. He decides to do this since it is getting late and it is almost her bedtime.

"Can Uncle Drake have a kiss?" He asks her. Initially she shakes her head no, then she laughs out loud when he tickles her. He asks her again. "Can Uncle Drake _please_ have a kiss? "This time she laughs while she shakes her head, knowing that he is going to tickle her again. When Drake asks a third time, she smiles and kisses his beak.

/

Gosalyn is at rehearsal with Javo. She didn't want to rehearse tonight, but he insisted. They are working on the same piece that they were working on during the last rehearsal. Javo thinks that Gosalyn has great technique, but lacks character in her dancing.

"You need to show more emotion while you dance. Try again." He instructs. Gosalyn is frustrated, but she prepares to start again. As she performs, Javo shakes his head. "No, no, no, no. You're not getting it. There is no mystery in your dancing. No spontaneity. Forget the straight legs and controlled center for a minute and tell a story."

"What story?" Gosalyn asks "Bree choreographed this dance and I'm doing it."

"There is more to dancing then choreographed steps. Here, let me show you." Javo positions himself behind Gosalyn and puts one arm around her waist and holds her hand that is up in the air. She starts to tense up as they begin their dance. A few seconds into their dance, he gropes her leg again. Gosalyn freezes as he feels his way up her dance skirt and grabs her crotch. She gasps and struggles to free herself from his hold. He lets her go and she walks away from him until there are a few feet between them. Her arms are crossed and she is looking down.

"What's your problem?" He asks her.

"Why did you do that?" Gosalyn asks as she fights to gain her composure back.

"I did it to get a reaction out of you. And it worked." Javo says as he walks past Gosalyn and gathers his things. "That's enough for tonight. You can leave." Javo turns out the lights as he leaves, even though Gosalyn is still standing in the middle of the studio. She stands there for a few minutes with her arms crossed, shivering and on the verge of tears. Even though there is nobody there to see her cry, she does everything she can to avoid letting it out.


	5. Ch 5 Up All Night

The citizens of Saint Canard have been derailed by an accident on the bridge. Nobody can get across. Some people that live in the suburbs are forced to wait it out in the city, while a few others that live in the city are waiting it out in the suburbs. It is just after nine 'o clock, and it's been a long day for Drake, his family and his friends.

Drake and Launchpad continue to watch the news hoping the bridge will open soon. Drake has already put Jake and Christian to bed, but MacKena is still awake. She is sitting calmly next to Drake on the couch drinking from her sippy cup.

Gwen invited Beth, Hayley and the kids to stay at her apartment since they are stuck in the city. Beth is already there. Tank and Abby have picked up Gosalyn from rehearsal. Tank and Abby are talking and laughing, but Gosalyn is quiet. She stares out the car window from her back seat, thinking about Javo and what he did to her. The thought of it sends a shiver up her spine. Abby notices Gosalyn's silence and decides to ask her about it.

"Gosalyn, what's up with you? You're so quiet."

Gosalyn is not in the mood to talk, but she knows she needs to answer her friend. "Nothing's up, just a long day that's all."

When they arrive at Gwen's, Skye is happy to see his girlfriend, but not so thrilled to see Tank arrive with Abby. The pair are still talking and laughing as they walk through the door. Skye tries to kiss Gosalyn, but she avoids him. She makes up an excuse about being sweaty from rehearsal.

"Gwen, can I use your shower?" Gosalyn asks as she continues to distance herself from her boyfriend.

"Sure Honey, you know where everything is" Gwen responds as she walks around her apartment to straighten up. Gosalyn leaves the room, leaving Skye to deal with Tank. He asks his friend to help him get drinks for everyone from the kitchen.

"Dude, what do you think you're doing?" Skye asks him.

Tank acts oblivious "What?"

"You and Abby? You said you weren't going to pursue her" Skye is even more upset that he has to point out the obvious.

"I didn't pursue her. But check this out, man. She asked me out."

"No way" Skye waves his hand in disbelief.

"It's true! She asked me out. You can ask your girlfriend, she was standing right there."

Skye's eyes are wide as he watches his friend walk around the kitchen. "How did that even happen? And even if it did happen the way that say it happened, why didn't you just say no?"

Tank takes a sip of his soda before he responds. "In what order would you like those questions answered in?"

"Tank!" Skye yells before he catches himself raising his voice

"Okay, dude chill out, alright? It's not that bad." Tank says as he takes another sip of his soda.

"I told you she's been through a lot. I told you I would break your face if you hurt her Tank. Did you not hear a word of it?"

"I heard you. But I think you are overreacting. Abby's cool. And she's a big girl. She can take care of herself." Tank says has he pours soda into a glass for Abby.

/

In the suburbs, it is nearly ten o'clock. Drake and Launchpad are surprised when Hayley walks through the door. Drake stands up to greet her.

"Hey Hayles? How did you get here?"

"I took the I-9 into Hawksburg. Then drove through the city, took the bridge to Yolktown, took the expressway to Saint Beakensburg and then wound up here."

Drake is surprised "You drove three hours out of your way just to get here? Hayles you could have just stayed at Gwen's."

"I know, but I had to get home to my daughter. My god I've never been away from her this long. Come here Sweetheart." MacKena walks over to her mother's open arms and Hayley picks her up. "Mommy is so sorry, I know it's so late." She says as she holds her baby and rubs her back. "Thank you so much Drake for taking care of her."

"Don't mention it. We just hung out, you know, played with blocks, ate some mac & cheese, drank some juice." Drake says as he gently rubs his hand on MacKena's head.

"We should go change your diaper." Hayley tells her daughter before Drake stops her.

"Already done" He says.

"What, you changed her?"

"I had to. You weren't here and she needed to be changed" He says in his defense.

"Oh my god, did she scream? Was it horrible?" Hayley asks in a panic.

"Take it easy Hayles. You act like I've never changed a diaper." Drake says as he chuckles.

"I'm sorry, I didn't…. It's just that she screams bloody murder anytime someone else tries to change her." Hayley says as she continues to hold her daughter.

"Who can blame her? She has a cherry red rash on her bottom the size of Texas."

"Oh no, it got worse? We should go take care of that." Hayley says as she starts to walk toward the stairs again. Drake stops her again and grabs her arms.

"Hayley! Breath, okay? MaKena is fine. I got her cleaned up, gave her some cream, she's okay, I promise. But you've had a long day and you need to eat something. So why don't you let me take MacKena, and you go eat some leftovers from the dinner that nobody came home to eat?" Drake says as he takes MacKena from Hayley.

Hayley covers her beak with both hands. After a few seconds she puts one of her hands over her heart. She is so tired and so relieved that she has her brother here to help her. She starts to relax and touches his arm. "Thanks Drakey."

"You're welcome. Now, MacKena and I are going to go read a book in the nursery, and after you consume the delicious dinner made by yours truly, you can come up and tuck her in." Drake says as he walks by Hayley and starts up the steps.

/

At Gwen's apartment, the ducks are conversing in the family room while Gosalyn is in the shower. She allows the warm water to run through her fiery red hair and down her exhausted body. Her eyes are closed and all she can hear is the sound of the shower water running and hitting the shower floor. She runs her hands through her hair as her thoughts take her back to her rehearsal with Javo, when he started dancing with her. She can hear the music playing in her head as her body sways back and forth in the shower. After a few seconds, she is reminded of the moment that he groped her. She gasps in the shower and her eyes shoot open. Her arms are wrapped around her chest as though she were hiding her naked body from the world. She is ashamed for allowing Javo to do that to her. She catches herself getting upset and immediately tries to calm down. She knows that everyone will be wondering where she is. She knows she needs to finish up and join everyone before someone comes looking for her. She turns off the water, grabs a towel and quickly wraps herself in it.

In the family room, Gwen and Skyler check on everyone to make sure they all have a drink. They each take a seat when they are satisfied. Gwen wastes no time asking about the sudden pair that is Tank and Abby.

"So, when did this happen?" She asks

"Well, nothing happened really. We're just hanging out." Abby answers casually. Tank nods in agreement. Skyler gives Tank a look that he doesn't see. He is really concerned for Abby. He doesn't want her to get hurt.

Bree notices Skyler's facial expression and attempts to cause a distraction. "Skye, how is rehearsal going with Bailar?"

"Good, we uh I think we work pretty well together."

"I had no idea you were working with a different dance partner." Gwen says as she holds her small pregnancy belly.

"Yeah, Aunt Bree decided to switch things up this season." Skyler confirms.

"Isn't it tough for you and Gosalyn to work with different dance partners?" Gwen asks as she repositions her body to get more comfortable.

"Not at all. It helps that Bailar and I are both involved with other people. Instead of worrying about feelings getting in the way we get to laugh and have fun."

Everyone continues to talk as Gosalyn slowly emerges. She's not really in the mood to talk to anyone. But she knows she can't avoid it. She's not in her own home. She can't hide in her room. And she can't hide from her boyfriend, who is the first to notice her. He immediately walks over to her and puts his arm around her. "There's my girl. We were just talking about our new dance partners."

Gosalyn grimaces. This is the last thing she wants to talk about. Skyler leads her over to the couch to sit down. Abby is not looking at Gosalyn, so she doesn't notice her discomfort. Her focus is on Tank, and his on her. Gosalyn notices their fast growing fondness for each other, which is a short lasting distraction from the topic at hand. Javo.

"Gosalyn's partner is this jet setting award winning professional who has studied at some of the top schools in the world." Skyler brags as he keeps his arm around his girlfriend. She takes a sip of the water that Skyler got for her earlier.

Beth notices that Gosalyn is uncomfortable and immediately asks her about it. "Gosalyn dear, are you alright? You're looking kind of pale."

"I'm fine. It's just been a long day" Gosalyn says as she dismisses Beth's question.

"I hope he's not working you too hard" Skyler says as he tightens his arm around her.

"No, he's not. He's…." She looks at Bree, who's been waiting for Gosalyn's take on Javo. "He's an amazing dancer and I'm… really lucky to be working with him." Bree is very excited that her ideas for this dance season seem to be working, unaware that one of her young dancers is being sexually abused. Gosalyn puts on a fake smile for everyone as they converse about other topics.

/

At the Mallard house, Hayley joins Drake and MacKena upstairs in the nursery. She peaks in and sees Drake sitting in the rocking chair with MacKena on his lap. He is reading a story to her and making the noises of each animal in the story. She laughs softly from the doorway and covers her beak. Drake looks up at her and smiles as he ends the story and closes the book.

"Are you ready to take her?" He asks her.

"Why don't you do the honors?" She responds with a smile. With that, Drake stands with MacKena in his arms and walks over to the crib. He slowly and gently lays her down on her back and rubs the top of her head. She immediately closes her eyes and drifts off to sleep. Drake and Hayley watch for a few minutes before they leave the nursery.

Drake slowly closes the nursery door behind him. The house is quiet, except for the news report on the television in the family room. Drake and Hayley walk down the steps to join Launchpad.

"You're really great with her. She doesn't usually take to other people, you know?" Hayley says as she smiles at her brother.

"Well, I am her uncle. Maybe she can sense that I am someone that is extremely important to her mother." Drake says with a hint of his ego resurfacing.

"Hey, any news about the bridge?" She asks Launchpad.

"The bridge is still closed. They're talking about it now." Launchpad turns up the volume on the television so that they could hear Tad Sonar's news report.

_"The big story tonight is the serious car accident on Audubon Bay Bridge. KRB reports that a truck heading eastbound has collided with an SUV headed westbound. The SUV was driven by an adult female who was taken to an area hospital with serious injuries. Five of the occupants of the SUV were children. One child was pronounced dead at the scene. Three of the children were taken to the hospital and are in critical condition. The fifth child was taken to an area hospital and is reported to have minor injuries. We are withholding the identities of the victims until the family of the deceased child is notified. The truck driver was reported to have minor scrapes and bruises. His name is Mandelor Holten. Monica Featherstone is live at the scene"_

_"Thank you Tad. Now the Audubon Bay Bridge is the only bridge that connects the suburbs and the city of Saint Canard. The accident happened just after rush hour when there were still many cars on the bridge. Those cars needed to be redirected in the other direction so that emergency personnel could help the victims and clean up the mess from the wreckage. The family in the SUV was headed toward the suburbs when they collided with the truck. The police are still investigating what happened here. They are currently examining what is left of both vehicles and taking pictures. They anticipate the bridge being closed for the remainder of the evening and are working to have it open by six o' clock tomorrow morning. Live on the scene for KRB this is Monica Featerstone. Back to you Tad."_

_"Thank you Monica. The police will be investigating this accident for the next couple days which will include toxicology reports on both drivers. As Monica had mentioned, we expect the bridge to be open at six o' clock tomorrow morning. We encourage you to stay away from the bridge until then. There are many hotels in the city that are quickly being booked. If you or anyone you know is displaced for the evening, please call the number on the bottom of this screen for assistance. This number is also being broadcasted on local radio stations."_

Drake, Hayley and Launchpad are silent as they think about the accident on the bridge. That could have happened to any of them, or any of their kids. Drake feels uneasy about his family being in the city. He just wants to hold them tight after what he had just heard. A child lost his or her life in that accident. He feels the need to do something, take action. He immediately stands up and picks up the phone to dial the stationhouse. Hayley and Launchpad watch him thoughtfully.

"This is Detective Drake Mallard from Missing Persons. I heard about the accident on the bridge and was wondering if there is anything I can do to assist in the investigation."

The duck on the phone with Drake turns him down, and it is obvious in his facial expression.

"Are you sure…. Okay, well, can you please take my number and keep me posted?"

Drake provides his phone number and puts the phone back on the receiver. His back is still toward Hayley and Launchpad. Hayley knows that Drake is thinking of his kids and walks over to give him a hug.

Drake taps his sister's back and immediately pulls away from the hug. "I should call Beth and the kids"

/

At Gwen's apartment, the ducks are still conversing as though nothing were wrong. Beth's phone rings and she answers it to talk to her husband. Her mood changes as he tells her about the accident on the bridge. She stands up and takes a couple steps away from the group. "That's awful" She says as everyone looks at her. She continues to listen as her husband tells her that a child has died and other children were taken to the hospital.

"Beth, are you there?" He asks her after a few seconds of silence.

"Yes I'm here."

"You and the kids should get some sleep, okay? The bridge isn't going to be open until tomorrow morning. Launchpad and I will bring some clothes for you and the kids after the bridge opens."

"Okay. I'll miss you tonight." Beth says lovingly.

"I'll miss you too. I love you Bethy."

"I love you too." Beth says as she ends the call. "That was Drake. He told me about the accident on the bridge. It was really bad" Beth sits back down on the couch and tells the group about the accident on the bridge.

/

Hayley walks up to Drake and puts her hand on his shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine. I wanna check on the kids though." Hayley and Launchpad both watch as Drake walks up the steps.

/

As the ducks at Gwen's apartment prepare to go to sleep, Beth decides to try her talk with Gosalyn again. They will both be sleeping in Gosalyn's old room along with Abby, so she knows she needs to clear the air with her. Now's a good time since Abby is taking a shower. "Gosalyn" she startles her when she calls her name. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."

"It's okay Beth" Gosalyn says as she goes back to straightening out the covers on her bed.

"I need to talk to you… about Jack."

"What about him?" She asks. She's been so preoccupied with the drama in her own life, she completely forgot that she caught Beth kissing another guy, until she brought it up again.

"I told you that nothing happened with him, but I got the feeling that you didn't believe me." Beth begins as she plays with her hands.

"Does it matter?" Gosalyn asks the only question she can think of at the moment. Beth gives her a funny look so Gosalyn elaborates. "What I think, does it matter?"

"Of course it matters. Honey I don't want you to think that I would cheat on your father." She still feels Gosalyn's distance, so she feels the need to explain. "What you saw was Jack kissing me. What you didn't see was me pulling away from him and slapping him. I didn't want him to kiss me. It was offbeat, it was unexpected and if I knew he was going to do that I would have stopped him before he was able to do it."

For the first time since they've been in the room, Gosalyn looks at Beth, but she doesn't say anything. She wants so badly to confide in someone about what is happening with Javo. She thinks for a moment that that someone could be Beth. Their situations are similar, except Beth is telling her that she does not have any feelings for Jack. Gosalyn is not sure if she has feelings for Javo. She decides to keep her mouth shut about Javo.

"I need to know what you're thinking" Beth says.

Gosalyn looks down for a moment and then responds. "I think that people make mistakes. I know that you love my Dad, and you would never intentionally do anything to hurt him."

Beth is satisfied with that and smiles. Gosalyn smiles back at her and goes back to preparing her bed. Although she doesn't anticipate getting a decent night's sleep.

/

Drake finishes checking on the kids. He closes Jake's door and walks down the third floor attic steps and is joined by Hayley. She wants him to talk to her, but he is avoiding the conversation. Drake is a proud man and only confides his fears in one person, his wife. But she is not here right now. Hayley blocks him from walking past her.

"Drake, can we please talk?"

Drake looks at her for a second as he comes up with an excuse. "I need to get some blankets and pillows for Launchpad."

"That can wait" She says as she blocks him again.

"You don't give up do you?" He asks her as he finds a way to walk past her. She follows him.

"No I don't, so talk. Let's have it."

He turns to face her. "I'm… I'm going crazy Hayles. I see this tragedy and I feel helpless. I'm anxious, I feel like I need to do something."

"And that's why you called the station." She says.

"Yes, I'm a detective so I thought I'd use my badge to help with the investigation. I know that my family's okay so naturally I want to do something to help the family that's not okay."

"So go" She orders. "Go and help with the investigation. Just go and show up at the bridge."

"You think?" He asks as he considers her suggestion.

"What's the worst that can happen? You show up, and they'll either let you help or send you home. At least you'll be making the effort, right?"

"You're right" Drake says as he smiles. He gives his sister a hug and prepares to leave. "Thank Hayles"

/

Abby emerges from the bathroom at Gwen's and runs into Tank in the dark hallway. He was waiting for her to come out so that he could take a shower. He also secretly hoped to catch her in a towel, but no such luck. She and Gosalyn have both borrowed shirts from Skye to wear to bed.

"Fancy meeting you here" He says to her.

"Yeah, me in an oversized borrowed shirt from my best friend's boyfriend?"

"I think it's cute. This arrangement though, it's not working for me." Tank says as he gets close to her and runs the back of his finger up and down her stomach area.

"What spending the night at Skye's?"

"Spending the night in Skye's room. It's tacky. I was thinking maybe you and I could…" He says as he wraps his arms around her waist.

"What, have a romp on Aunt Gwen's sofa? No way" She says with a smile. She jokingly pokes two fingers on his chest to back him away from her.

"Come on. Why not?" He asks her.

"Because, we'll get caught. And I'm not okay with the whole PDS thing."

"PDS?" He asks as he gives her a curious look.

"Public display of sex" She confirms without blushing, which surprises him.

"But, you'd be okay with sex otherwise?" He asks her.

"Good night Tank" She laughs as she proceeds to the room she will be sleeping in. Tank watches her until he can't see her anymore.

Gosalyn and Beth are already settled. There are two beds and an air mattress in their room. Each positioned toward the center of the room since Launchpad has already started to paint the room for the triplets. Beth has fallen asleep, but Gosalyn is wide awake. She is unable to shake the thoughts of Javo and Skye out of her head. She loves Skye. She is not _in_ love with him but she loves him. Yet she can't stop thinking about Javo. She's not sure if she has feelings for him, but she feels an attraction toward him. He is older, he is experienced, he is cultured and well educated, not to mention incredibly handsome. But then there's the groping. She does not like when he does that. He told her that he did it to get a reaction out of her. He certainly did get a reaction, but that of fright. Was that the reaction he was looking for? She sits up and notices Beth and Abby. They are both asleep. She pulls her knees to her chest and sits awake for the next few hours.

/

Drake arrives at the bridge on foot. He had parked his car a few blocks away since the roads leading to the bridge are closed. He approaches one of the officers and shows his badge that he is wearing on a long chain around his neck. The officer is able to find something for him to do, which makes Drake feel very useful.

As he continues to work, Drake comes upon what is left of the SUV. There are a few booster seats around the SUV, which indicate that some of the children were very young. Another officer approaches him.

"Everything alright Detective?" He asks him

Drake doesn't look at the officer, he keeps his eyes on one of the booster seats. "How old was the child that died?"

The officer looks down before answering his question. "She was eight. She was a triplet."

Drake looks back at the officer with his beak opened. This tragedy just keeps getting worse. The officer continues as Drake looks back at the wrecked car. "Her sisters were both airlifted to the trauma center in Duckburg. Their aunt was driving the car."

"And the other two kids?" Drake asks as he remembers that there were five children in the car.

"They are brothers, the drivers' sons. One was flown to Duckburg and the other is at Saint Canard General Hospital."

Drake continues to stare at the wrecked car. He can't help but think of his family, and how lucky he is every single day to have them.

"Detective, are you alright?" The officer asks him again.

"I'm fine. I'm sorry, I just needed a moment" Drake answers as he turns to face the officer.

"Understood. You'd have to be pretty messed up to not have a reaction to this."

Drake watches as the officer walks away. He turns his attention to the car once more before he continues to help with the investigation.


	6. Ch 6 Life, Loss and Lust

_Police continue to investigate the horrific accident on Audubon Bay Bridge that has claimed the life of a little girl, and sent her family members to the hospital. The names of the victims have yet to be released. The accident forced police and fire crews to close the bridge around seven fifteen last evening. Chopper 7 is flying over the scene now. It is still dark here in Saint Canard but you can see police have started removing the barricades. The bridge is scheduled to be open at six o'clock, which is about ten minutes from now. KRB will be bringing you updates as the day progresses._

Drake has been asleep on the couch. Hayley turns off the television and it startles him. He immediately sits up straight and looks around until he sees Hayley.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you" she says. "What time did you get in?"

"I guess it was around four o'clock" he says as he rubs the back of his head. Hayley hands him a cup of coffee and he accepts it. "Are the kids up yet?"

"No, they're still asleep" Hayley says as she sits on the couch next to Drake. "Launchpad left a few minutes ago, he took the bag of clothes for the girls."

Drake takes a sip of the coffee and grimaces. "I guess he made the coffee?"

"Yeah sorry, he was trying to help. Want me to make another pot?"

Drake takes another sip of the coffee. "Nope, this will do. I need to wake up and start my day." Drake stands up and starts to pace with his coffee cup in hand. Hayley watches him for a second before approaching him.

"Drake, what was it like at the bridge? What happened?"

Drake hesitates for a moment before answering her. "It was awful. Just…. completely devastating. Kids got hurt, one kid died…."

Hayley looks sadly at Drake as he continues "This family was coming home from… wherever, and in a split second their lives changed forever."

/

The six o' clock news is on the main television set at Gwen's apartment. The kids are listening to it as they prepare and eat breakfast.

_We are live on the scene here at the Saint Canard City border where police have just reopened the bridge. Cars have been lined up on both sides of the bridge for the past hour, hoping to get a head start on their morning commutes. We just confirmed that the Saint Canard Elementary Schools, Middle Schools and the High School will each have a two hour delayed opening. The buses will run exactly two hours past their normal scheduled stops. The schools will be open early for any children that need to be dropped off early, and grief counselors will be available throughout the day at the Elementary school in the suburbs._

Gwen and Beth have been scrambling to get ready for work. They are also making sure that the kids have everything they need for their breakfast. The kids each have a bowl of cereal with milk. They've had their eyes glued to the television, waiting for the news reporter to talk about what happened on the bridge last night. Tank's cell phone rings and he walks away to answer it. The kids continue to watch the news report.

_It was a night of tragedy for one family last night when their SUV collided with a truck on Audubon Bay Bridge. Witnesses say the truck was traveling eastbound in the left lane when a car traveling in the right lane cut him off. The truck driver slammed on his brakes and swerved into oncoming traffic, crashing into the SUV. The SUV then spun around and was hit by two other vehicles. Although many witnesses stopped to give statements, the car that cut in front of the truck kept going. The car was an orange Juniper and the first 3 digits of the license plate may have been EJ2. Police need your help locating the driver of this car. Police are also checking BridgePass records to see if they can locate the driver. _

Drake and Hayley are also watching the news while drinking more coffee.

_Last night's accident claimed the life of eight year old Carly Vassar. She is the daughter of Saint Canard Homicide Detective Leonard Vassar. Her triplet sisters, Chloe Vassar and Chelsea Vassar were airlifted to Duckburg University's Trauma Center, where they are currently listed in critical condition. The driver of the car is their aunt, forty one year old Victoria Beakman. She was taken to Saint Canard General Hospital with serious injuries. Her sons, Austin Beakman and Jason Beakman, were also in the car. Sixteen year old Austin was taken to Saint Canard General Hospital with serious injuries while ten year old Jason was airlifted to Duckburg University's Trauma Center. He is listed in critical condition. The truck driver was fifty four year old Mandelor Holten. He was taken to Saint Canard General Hospital with minor injuries. There were two other vehicles involved in the crash. Those drivers sustained minor injuries. Charges have not yet been filed in this case, but that could change as the investigation unfolds._

Drake lowers his cup of coffee and looks down at it. Hayley looks over at him.

"Do you know Leo?" She asks him, referring to the father of the triplet girls.

"He works in homicide. Our paths have crossed a few times. He's a good guy, he doesn't deserve this."

Hayley rubs his back, knowing that her brother is deeply affected by this. "No he doesn't."

Drake looks up at Hayley and notices that she has tears in her eyes. "Do you know him?"

"I knew him in high school. He was my partner in physics. When Mom and Dad died, he was a really good friend. He helped me catch up on my school work. I couldn't really talk to my friends but he made it really easy to talk to him."

"I can't imagine what he's going through. He can't even grieve for his child because his other children are in really bad shape. And even they could…." Drake doesn't finish the sentence. Instead he takes the last sip of his coffee and pulls himself together. "I need to get Jake ready for school." Hayley watches as Drake leaves the room and walks up the steps.

/

The kids finish their breakfast and clean their dishes. They haven't said a word to each other since watching the news report about the accident. Austin Beakman is a sophomore at Saint Canard High School, so Skyler and Tank know him. Abby notices that Tank is getting ready to leave.

"Where are you going?" she asks him as she breaks the silence.

"I have to go babysit my sister while my folks go to work."

"What about Honker? Can't he watch her?" Abby joins Tank and they both walk down the steps to the common area of the building.

"They're going to drop him off at school early. He wants to work on his science project."

Abby chuckles "It's not due for another three weeks"

"That's Honker" Tank laughs. His expression turns serious as he looks into Abby's eyes. He pulls her into a kiss, and she kisses him back. "I'll see you at school."

Abby watches Tank leave. She is smiling, something she doesn't do very often. Launchpad arrives and notices her happy mood.

"Hey Abster. I have some stuff here for you and Gosalyn." He gives her the bag.

"Thanks Launchpad"

Launchpad joins Gwen in the apartment and they embrace. They hold each other for a while as they think about the family involved in the accident. A triplet sister lost her life in the accident, and her sisters' lives will never be the same. Her parents' lives will never be the same. They think about their own unborn triplets. They cannot imagine losing one of them. Even though they are not born yet, the love and the connection are still there. Abby, Gosalyn and Skyler watch them in silence. Beth walks into the room and witnesses their embrace as well. As they let go of each other, Launchpad notices that Gwen has tears in her eyes. He wipes them away and tries to reassure her. "Everything's going to be okay."

/

Two weeks have gone by since the tragic accident on the bridge. It is Friday night, and Drake, Beth and Hayley are preparing to go to the viewing for Carla Vassar, the girl that lost her life in the crash. Trina will babysit Jake, MacKena and Christian. Abby is getting ready for a date with Tank and Gosalyn is getting ready for a rehearsal with Javo. Gosalyn is surprised that Abby is going out with Tank again.

"I can't believe you are going out with him again." Gosalyn shouts as she packs some things she'll need for rehearsal. "What do you see in him anyway?"

"I don't expect you to understand. You grew up with the guy"

"The guy's a player Abby. I just don't wanna see you get hurt"

"I really wish people would stop saying that" Abby says as she styles her hair.

"Oh yeah? Who else is on the 'stay away from Tank' wagon?"

"Well there's you, and Skye, and Zach…."

"Really? Zach said something to you?" Gosalyn asks.

"Pretty much the same thing you said. That he's a player and I that I shouldn't bother with him, blah blah blah" Abby finishes her hair and picks out a pair of shoes.

"Well there you go. That's three people that care about you that say you shouldn't be getting involved with Tank. What's going on with you two anyway? Are you dating now?" Gosalyn asks her friend.

"We haven't really defined what we are yet. And I'm okay with that. We're hanging out and we're having a good time. Can't you just be my friend and be happy for me?" Abby asks.

"I just don't want you to get your heart broken. And from what I've heard, Tank is known to do that" Gosalyn takes her bag and leaves the room. Abby sighs and shakes her head. She pushes the negative thoughts out of her head so she can finish getting ready for her date.

/

Gosalyn joins the adults in the family room. Each of them dressed in black and ready to go to the viewing. Tank is also there to pick Abby up for their date. Drake sees Gosalyn and walks over to her.

"Hey Sweetheart, I hope you don't mind but I asked Tank to bring you home from rehearsal"

"I don't mind" She tells her Dad. "But I don't get why you're all going to the viewing. Did you know Carly?"

"No, but I know her father. And your Aunt Hayley went to school with him. We want to pay our respects"

"We should get going so we're not late" Beth says.

The adults and Gosalyn leave as Abby walks down the steps. Tank is there to greet her. "You look great" he says to her.

"Thank you. Shall we?"

/

Drake, Beth and Hayley are at the viewing, standing in line to pay their respects to the family of Carly Vassar. Drake greets a few fellow officers that have come to pay their respects. He also introduces them to Beth. Hayley catches up with some people that she went to high school with. Some of them have remained friends with the girl's father Leonard Vassar, while others have lost contact.

As they come close to the front of the line, they see Carly's grieving parents shaking hands and accepting hugs from friends. Drake looks over and sees one of the triplet girls, Chelsea Vassar. She was released from the hospital a few days after the accident. She has her broken arm in a sling and a bandage around her head. She is sitting with her grandmother, just a few feet away from her sister's casket. Her cousin Austin was also released from the hospital. He doesn't appear to have any injuries. He takes a seat next to Chelsea and puts his arm around her. Watching the family grieve for the child brings tears to his eyes. Beth sees this and puts her arms around him.

"This isn't right Beth"

"No it's not" She agrees.

They reach the front of the line. Drake shakes Leonard's hand and introduces him and his wife to Beth. Beth shakes hands with both of them as they express their condolences. Hayley gives Leonard a hug and immediately starts to tear up.

"I'm sorry, I swore I wouldn't do this" She says as she wipes the tears from her eyes.

"It's okay" He says to her. "It's really good to see you. It's good to see all these people that have been part of my life. Some of these guys I haven't seen since grade school. My wife and I are just so overwhelmed by all the support"

"You're a good person Leo. I'm sorry that you have to go through this"

Hayley walks over to the casket to say a prayer. Drake and Beth approach Chelsea. They don't know her, but they feel the need to extend condolences to her too. They've seen people come and go after greeting her parents, but nobody has really talked to her during the viewing.

Drake squats down to her level to introduce himself. "Hi Chelsea. I'm Detective Drake. I'm a police officer like your Dad"

"Hi" is the only word that she can get out. Austin still has his arm around her.

"I know that you don't know me, but will it be alright if I give you a hug?"

Chelsea nods and stands to hug him. Drake holds her for a few seconds and starts to feel emotional again. He lets go and looks her in the eye. "This is my wife Beth. We have kids and they've been saying prayers for you, and your sisters and your cousin every day. And we're going to keep doing that, okay?"

Chelsea nods again. Austin helps her sit in her seat again since her arm is in a sling. Drake and Beth put their arms around each other and leave with Hayley.

/

Abby and Tank are in his car parked at the waterfront. They have some time to kill while they wait for Gosalyn's rehearsal to be over. Tank kisses her and they start making out. Tank kisses her neck a few times. Then he lifts her shirt and kisses her stomach. They are both caught up in each other and are able to forget about the world that surrounds them, until they hear the loud sound of a car horn. Tank's foot pressed the horn on the steering wheel. They both giggle and sit up in their seats again. Both are disappointed that the moment is ruined. This only leaves them wanting more.

"Are you okay with all this? You and me?" He asks her

"Yeah, why?"

"I know that people have been saying things to you about me. And they're kind of all true."

"You mean you're the one that ran down that poor old man with your car and dumped his body into the bay?"

"What?" Tank gasps in horror.

Abby laughs at his facial expression. "You should see your face, it's priceless."

"Oh yeah?" Tank tickles her and she squeals. They both laugh and start to make out again.

/

At rehearsal, Javo takes the time to thoroughly explain the characters of their dance to Gosalyn. Although she enjoys dancing, she does not enjoy acting, but she wants to impress him and do well with her performance. She listens to him intently and does her best to apply his notes to her dancing. They start their dance which features Gosalyn as the sheltered princess and Javo as the knight that breaks her free from her castle that's confined her all her life.

Gosalyn's dancing is angelic and beautiful, but she is still not bringing out the character that Javo is looking for. After a minutes into their routine, he takes her and holds her in such a way that prevents her from pulling away and he kisses her. She tries to pull away from him, but she can't. His hold on her is much too strong. She gives in and starts to kiss him back, hoping that her cooperation will please him. She's also a little curious about what it feels like to kiss him. He's older, he's experienced and he's very good looking. They continue to kiss, and Gosalyn allows herself to get lost in the moment. She even starts to enjoy it. But nothing could prepare her for what happens next. He gently puts his hand on her leg and glides his hand up until he touches her crotch. He keeps his grip on her and continues to kiss her as he caresses her crotch. After a few seconds, Gosalyn realizes that his fingers are inside of her. She immediately starts to feel scared and tries to stop him. She can't pull away from him and she can't talk since he is still kissing her. She begins to moan as she struggles to get away from him until he stops kissing her and let's go of her. Javo presses the button on his tiny remote to stop the music.

"Work on the character" He says to her firmly. He gathers his belongings and leaves her there again in the dark studio. Gosalyn falls to the floor and starts to cry.

/

Its a few days later in the Mallard house and the family is getting ready to start their day. Gosalyn finds Drake in the nursery changing MacKena. Hayley had to leave early for a meeting so he agreed to take care of his niece. Gosalyn is trying to get permission to double date with Skye, Abby and Tank, but it is a school night.

"The answer is no" He says to her.

"Come on Dad, it's just one night and we promise to be home before curfew" Gosalyn pleads.

"I don't understand why you have to go out on a school night. Can't this wait till the weekend?" He asks her as he puts a diaper on MacKena.

"We won't have time this weekend. And the guys have a retreat next week. The movie won't be in theaters much longer."

"I'm sorry honey. But the answer is still no."

"But Dad!"

"Gos, your progress report came in the mail yesterday. I was going to wait and talk to you about it later but here it goes. Your grades are slipping. You've been so busy with soccer and dance and studying seems to be taking a back burner in your schedule. I need you home studying tonight."

"But I can study in study hall!"

"You are not going. And that is final, finito, end of discussion." Drake has finished dressing MacKena and picks her up. "Now, you need to get ready for school and I need to get ready for work. We'll have tacos for dinner tonight, alright?"

"Fine" Gosalyn says with disappointment in her voice. She leaves to go to her room to finish getting ready. Drake feels slightly bad as he watches her, but he feels confident that he made the right decision, until he brings it up to his partner.

/

Drake and Taylor are in their patrol car on their way to interview more witnesses for their case. They are still looking for a young mother that went missing two years ago. They discuss Gosalyn wanting to go out with her boyfriend on a school night. Even though Taylor is a mother, she is still young, so she can relate more to Gosalyn. She thinks Drake's decision is unreasonable.

"She's lucky I let her date in the first place. I still think she's too young for that"

"She's going to be fifteen. What, did you think she was going to wait till she's eighteen?" She asks him jokingly.

"That would have been nice. Why does she have to date now? She's got plenty of time for that" He says as he quickly turns the corner.

"Whoa, slow down there Detective. Woman with a baby on board"

He glances over at her and softens "Sorry. I just don't want her to grow up too fast. I want her to stay being a kid for a while and concentrate on her school work and her sports."

"She can still be a kid and have a boyfriend. I mean she's not….you know."

Drake glances at her again and knows exactly what she is implying. "No, no she's not…. doing that. She even told me she thinks she's too young for that." Drake thinks this over more and hopes that his daughter isn't having sex.

"You actually talked to her about this?" Taylor asks with a hint of shock in her voice.

"Of course I did. She's my daughter and I was worried about her. Especially after that case we had last spring… you remember the teenagers that tried to run away and have a baby?"

"Yes I remember that" she says. "It's good, you know, that she talks to you about that sort of thing. Most parents avoid the subject completely."

"Does that mean you approve of my highly exceptional phenomenal parenting skills?" he asks her.

"Careful Detective, your ego is showing" she says to him. "But yeah, I do"

"But you still think that I should let her go out tonight"

"Yes I do" she says. Drake sighs as he turns the next corner at a slower speed. He continues down the block but makes a turn on the next street. Taylor notices that he is not going the right way.

"Where are we going?"

"Gosalyn's school" He answers her. Taylor smiles and leans back in her seat.

/

Gosalyn walks outside of her school during lunch period to meet with her father. He had sent her a text message to let her know that he was there. He is standing outside of his patrol car and Taylor is sitting in the passenger seat. She waves to Gosalyn and Gosalyn waves back. She is not happy to see Drake, which doesn't really surprise him.

"What are you doing here?" she asks him.

"It's good to see you too my darling daughter" Drake says with a sarcastic tone.

"If this is about the progress report…." she starts, but Drake interrupts her. He bends down to her level to look her in the eye.

"No it's not. Although I'm not exactly thrilled to find out that your grades are slipping this early in the school year, I don't think missing out on one night out with your friends is going to improve them. I think it's a good wakeup call, and that in itself should tell you that you need to work harder."

Gosalyn is confused. "So what are you saying?"

"I'm saying that you need to up your game on your schoolwork. But, not tonight. Because tonight, you are going out with your friends"

"Really?" Gosalyn asks as she shows her excitement. "You're letting me go?"

"Yes" he confirms. Gosalyn hugs him so tight that she nearly knocks him over.

"Thanks Dad"

"You're welcome" He pulls her out of the hug so he can look her in the eye. "Don't make me regret this okay? I need you home before curfew."

"Okay"

Gosalyn watches as Drake gets back in his patrol car and drives away.

/

Later in the afternoon, the kids arrive at a park near the water front. It is still daylight but there is nobody around. The movie that they planned to see has sold out, so they are left to occupy themselves for the rest of the day. Tank and Abby are in the front seat while Skyler and Gosalyn are in the back. Gosalyn has been staring out the window. She hasn't told anyone about what Javo has been doing to her. Anytime she is in a car or in her room her mind wanders to all of the moments that he touched her. She's having a hard time shaking those thoughts out of her head, but every once in a while she gets a distraction. The kids have been laughing about something Tank said, but Gosalyn missed it. She looks at Skyler and pretends to laugh along with them.

Tank parks and turns the car off. He and Abby hesitate for a few seconds, and then they turn to face each other and make out. Gosalyn and Skyler are surprised and appalled to be witnesses to their heavy make out session. Skyler speaks up.

"Hey guys…"

Tank and Abby giggle as they break away from their kiss.

"Do you guys mind, um, maybe taking a walk for a few minutes?" Abby asks them while she's still giggling.

Gosalyn and Skyler roll their eyes. They each open their door and get out of the car. Tank and Abby continue to enjoy their time together as Gosalyn and Skyler converse outside the car.

"Can you believe them?" Gosalyn asks him.

"I tried to tell Abby not to get involved with him." Skye says.

"So did I. But now she's… Oh my god. They're… they're doing it, aren't they? Are they?" Gosalyn asks him. It occurs to her that Tank and Abby are doing more than just making out.

Skyler can't help but laugh. "Yeah, yeah I think they are."

Gosalyn is disgusted. "Eww, good god, why do they have to do this here?"

"Sweetie, that's what people do here. But… we don't have to."

Gosalyn looks at Skyler and suddenly it occurs to her that they _aren't_ doing it. And that may be a problem for her boyfriend. "Does it bother you that we don't?"

"No, no it doesn't. I'm happy with the way things are. Sex, it just complicates things. I've seen so many people break up after having sex and I don't think it's worth it. Not for us anyway."

"What makes us so different?" She asks him.

"We didn't just hook up. We were kids when we started to get to know each other. Our relationship is growing just like we are. And I treasure that more than just one night of sex. When we are both ready, we'll know it."

Gosalyn is satisfied with his answer. Her look of dread turns into a smile and she kisses him. Their lovely moment is ruined when a police officer pulls up. They are under eighteen and the sun has begun to set. The park is closed at sunset, so they really shouldn't be there. Gosalyn gulps as she looks at the patrol car. She promised her father that she wouldn't let him down. Skyler knocks on the trunk of the car to get Tank and Abby's attention, but it doesn't work. The police officer approaches the driver's side and knocks on the window. Both ducks are partially clothed and scramble to cover themselves with their clothes. Gosalyn covers her eyes in embarrassment.

/

Drake says goodbye to the officer that dropped the girls off. Gosalyn and Abby are standing in the family room with Beth, waiting for Drake to go off on them. Drake slowly approaches the family room. He feels betrayed, and he regrets changing his mind about allowing the girls to go out on a school night. He's well aware of the park near the waterfront, and he's also aware that young people park there to have sex.

"What were you thinking? I'm sorry, that would imply that you _were_ thinking. You were supposed to be at the movies. What were you doing at the park this late in the day?"

"The movie was sold out" Gosalyn says.

"So what, instead of coming home you decide to go riding in cars with boys? Made a pit stop at the park known for people stopping by to have sex? Hopefully a stop at the local pharmacy was part of the itinerary. You did use protection didn't you?" Drake says as he raises his voice. The girls don't answer him. Beth is not really sure what to say either.

"Well?" Drake asks with much impatience.

"Yes" Abby speaks up. Gosalyn looks up at her and can't believe her ears. Drake and Beth can't believe it either. Abby has tears in her eyes. She decides to make a confession. "I used protection with Tank, and all the other boys I've had sex with. Excuse me" Abby rushes out of the room and runs up the steps. Drake and Beth both watch in horror. Beth follows her.

Drake looks at Gosalyn. "Other boys?"

Gosalyn shrugs her shoulders, even though she is well aware of Abby's summer of sex.

/

A few days later, Drake and Taylor arrive in a town called Haystown, which is about an hour away from Saint Canard. They received a tip that their missing person Teresa is living there. They walk into a small diner and eye the waitress at the counter. She fits the description of their missing person, except her hair is darker and she appears to have lost weight. They sit at the counter and wait for her to serve them.

"How may I help you?"

"You can tell us why you don't use your real name, Teresa." Drake says. The waitress looks up at him, knowing that she's been caught. She immediately changes her facial expression in an effort to hide her identity.

"My name is Delsea. You must have me confused with someone else."

"No we don't" Drake says. "So why don't you tell us what's going on?"

"What do you mean?"

"Your family is looking for you" Taylor says. "They filed a missing person's report. They really want you to come home."

"It's like I said, you have me confused with someone else." The waitress says again. This time she gets nervous.

Drake pulls out a photo that was taken of Teresa and her kids two years ago and shows it to her. "This is you, two years earlier, a few pounds heavier and with hair a shade lighter. What I don't understand is, why are you hiding from this?"

She hesitates before she answers him. "You can't possibly understand" She picks up her coffee pot and takes a few steps away from him.

"Then explain it to me. Please. What are you hiding from?" Drake pleads with her.

"Those kids are better off without their mother" She answers him.

"Better off how? They miss you and they want you back" Drake pleads with her again.

"Look, I know you found me, but I'm an adult. And therefore I get to decide whether or not I want to be found. You cannot tell anyone that you found me here" Drake and Taylor are at a loss. They don't understand how she can stay away from her children like this. They both look at the photo as the waitress walks away.

/

In Saint Canard, Gosalyn and Javo are preparing for another rehearsal. They are not at Bree's studio since all of the rooms are occupied by students. Instead they are at a friend's studio a few blocks away. Javo is stretching while Gosalyn is looking out the window. She takes a sip of her water and notices a few young kids running toward the building. There is a family that lives in the downstairs apartment. She remembers being that young and being that excited to be home from school. She would have an after school snack and then join her friends outside and just play all afternoon. Things are different now that she is older. She has soccer practice every day after school and dance rehearsal most nights of the week. She thinks about how much easier her life was when she was nine and had no care in the world. She takes another sip of her water before starting rehearsal.

/

Drake and Taylor are in their patrol car heading home from Haystown. They cannot believe that they found Teresa only to discover that she didn't want to be found. Drake has a hard time with this.

"How can she do this? How can she stay away from her kids like this?" He asks.

"She's young. She probably wasn't ready to be a mother." Taylor tries to make sense of Teresa's decision.

"What about the rest of her family. What about her parents? They deserve to know where she is"

"But we can't tell them. Teresa was right. She's an adult and she has the right to say she doesn't want to be found. This sucks, but we have to respect her wishes" Taylor says.

Drake shakes his head. His phone rings and he answers it in a harsh tone. "What!"

It is Gwen. Taylor notices that Drake's mood quickly changes from agitation to horror.

"What happened, is she okay?" he asks Gwen.

"Drake, just come to the hospital, please" she says to him.

"I'm on my way" Drake throws his phone down and turns on the car's siren.

"What is it? What's going on?" Taylor asks him.

"Gosalyn's hurt, we need to get to the hospital.


	7. Ch 7 Big Dream Bigger Nightmare

Drake and Taylor arrive at the hospital and run down the hall to meet up with Beth. A few people from fire rescue are also there. The only thing that Drake knows is that Gosalyn was hurt. He wasn't given any details over the phone. This could mean a number of things, and these things have been running through his mind over and over again since the moment he got the call from Gwen to come to the hospital. She could have gotten hurt at soccer, or dance. Maybe she broke a bone or hit her head. Maybe she was involved a car accident. He reaches his wife and immediately questions her about his daughter.

"Where is she, where's Gosalyn?" He roughly takes both of Beth's hands in his and waits for her to answer.

Beth raises her head up and then slowly lowers it before answering him. "She's in with the doctors" Drake lets go of her hands and attempts to rush toward the exam room, but Beth stops him. "Drake, wait you can't go in there. You can't go in there" She is able to get him to face her again and she takes his hands in hers.

"Beth what happened to my daughter?" He asks her.

"There was a fire downtown. She wasn't burned or anything but she inhaled a lot of smoke. Gwen said she was unconscious when they brought her in."

Drake takes a moment to think about what his wife just told him. "A fire"

Beth nods.

Gwen and another doctor join them to talk about Gosalyn's condition. They tell them that she inhaled a lot of smoke, and they won't know anything more until she wakes up. Drake is angry. He immediately wants to find out what happened and he wants somebody to blame.

"What was she doing downtown?" He asks them.

"She was rehearsing with Javo" Gwen answers him.

Beth has one hand on Drake's back and the other on his chest, hoping that her touch will calm him down. But it doesn't work. He raises his voice and starts to pace as he tries to get more answers.

"She was rehearsing, so…. so that means Bree was there with her, right?" Gwen shakes her head. "Why not! She is a child, she's supposed to have adult supervision!" Nobody says anything. Drake looks around and notices that Bree is not there. He throws his arms up in the air. "Where is Bree?"

"She's trying to contact Javo's family to let them know what happened" Gwen says.

"Can we go in and see Gosalyn?" Beth asks.

Drake and Beth slowly enter Gosalyn's room. It is quiet, with the exception of the machines that beep once in a while. She has a mask over her face and her eyes are closed. She has black soot marks on her face and on her arms from being in the fire. Drake sits in the chair next to her bed and holds her hand.

"Hey Sweetheart. Daddy's here." He says to her softly.

/

Gosalyn opens her eyes and finds herself in a quiet peaceful existence. She looks around, hoping to see something familiar. She hears a familiar voice calling for her, but she doesn't see anyone. She brushes it off and continues to look around. A few seconds later she hears another familiar voice calling for her, a voice she hasn't heard in a really long time. This prompts her to turn around.

"Your turn Gozzy"

Gosalyn's eyes are wide open as she eyes the older male smiling back at her. "Grampa?"

/

At the hospital, the fire marshal speaks with Drake, Taylor and Beth. He tells them that the kids in the downstairs apartment were playing with matches and that is what started the fire. Drake doesn't understand what Gosalyn was doing there, since that isn't Bree's studio. Bree appears and is immediately questioned by Drake.

"Bree, what's going on? Why wasn't Gosalyn at your studio?"

Bree is out of breath, but does her best to answer Drake's question.

"Javo and Gosalyn wanted more rehearsal time. Our studio was full so they used a space that a friend of mine owns downtown."

"What happened to Javo?" Beth asks her.

"Yeah, is he here?" Drake adds.

"He's in a coma. I wasn't able to reach his family" Bree answers.

Gwen and two detectives join the ducks and they introduce themselves.

"Detective Mallard? I'm Detective Marsh and this is my partner Detective Gallo."

Drake shakes hands with the female and male detectives and gives them a confused look. "I know, you're in Special Victims. My daughter was in a fire. I don't see why you were brought into this case."

Gwen approaches Drake to explain. "Drake, um, when fire rescue found Gosalyn in the building… they said she wasn't wearing any clothes."

Drake looks at Gwen wide eyed but he doesn't say anything.

/

Gosalyn continues to stare at the older male duck before her. She cannot believe her eyes. She rubs them really hard and opens them again to make sure that what she is seeing is real. She doesn't say anything. She continues to watch the older duck as he walks around with a golf club in his hand.

"Well don't just stand there" He says in a friendly voice. "It's your shot Gozzy"

She looks over at the golf ball on the ground. "I'm green" she says as she starts to remember playing mini golf with her grandfather. "You always let me be green"

"It's our favorite color" He adds. "Be a dear and hand me my blue ball, would you?"

Gosalyn fetches the blue ball from the hole and hands it over to her Grandfather. She looks at him again very carefully and tries to figure out how this is possible. She tries to remember the last thing that happened to her, but she can't. She starts to think about where she is. Everything around her is peaceful. And white.

"What is this place? Where are we?" she asks him.

"We are nowhere and everywhere" he says.

Gosalyn considers his answer. "Grampa, am I dead?"

"Not yet" he says to her as he places his ball on the tee. "Well now, if you're not going to take the next shot I guess I will"

"If I'm not dead then what am I doing here?" She asks him.

The professor hits the ball and it stops a foot away from the whole. "You're playing mini golf with your Grandfather. And you're losing. You better step up your game there little one."

"Are you kidding? I can run circles around you at this game. Hand over that golf club" she says as she takes the club from the professor.

/

Drake sits in a waiting area with Beth, Gwen, Bree and the Special Victims detectives. He was just told that his daughter wasn't wearing any clothes when she was found in a fire.

"This doesn't make any sense, why would she be naked?" He asks.

"We don't know" the female detective answers him. "That's what we need to find out. We need to talk to her as soon as she wakes up and see if she remembers anything"

"What about Javo, was he wearing any clothes?" Beth asks

"He was partially clothed" the male detective answers this time. "We've asked the doctors to run blood tests on both of them to see if they had any drugs in their system"

"We need your consent for them to run a rape kit" the female detective adds.

Drake starts to lose his cool again "Are you saying my daughter was raped?"

"I know this is hard to hear, but if she wasn't wearing any clothes it's very likely she was raped" The female detective says.

Drake stands up and grabs his head. "I…. I can't believe this. How…. how could this happen? She was… she was rehearsing and.. and.. and….." Drake looks over at Bree and starts to yell at her. "You were supposed to be there with her. Why weren't you there?

"Drake, I'm sorry….." Bree starts to apologize but Drake won't have it. He becomes distressed and continues to lash out at her.

"Sorry? You're sorry? My daughter was raped, is sorry supposed to fix that?"

"Drake, calm down" Beth stands up next to Drake and puts her hands on him.

"I will not calm down" He shouts "My daughter is a minor, she's supposed to have adult supervision when she's rehearsing"

"Javo _is_ an adult" Bree says

"What?"

"He's nineteen" she says. "And he has a teaching certificate, which means he can hold a dance class without any other supervision"

"You paired my fourteen year old daughter up with a nineteen year old? My god what were you thinking?"

"Drake, this is not Bree's fault" Gwen steps in to defend her sister. "Now, I'm upset about this too, but attacking Bree is not going to fix this, and it's not going to help Gosalyn"

"She's right Honey, you need to calm down" Beth says as she rubs his back. "When Gosalyn wakes up she's going to need our support"

Drake looks over at the detectives. "I want to be there when you question her" he says calmly, even though every inch of him is consumed with anger.

"Drake, I don't think that's such a good idea" Beth says to him as she continues to rub his back.

"She's right" the female detective adds "She might not be as open about what happened if you or your wife are around"

"I'm her father. And I'm not going to let you question her without me there" he says coldly. They watch as he walks away from them.

/

Gosalyn finishes a round of mini golf with her grandfather. She cheers as she comes out on top.

"Yes! Ha! I am still undefeated"

"I could never beat you at this game" he says to her.

"You sure you never let me win?" she asks him.

"I wish I could say I did. Truth is you were always good at any sport that you played. You're a natural kid"

Gosalyn's big smile fades as she observes her surroundings again. Everything is white, and there is nobody else around. She knows that her grandfather is dead. She had allowed herself to forget that for a short while and enjoyed playing a round of mini golf with him. But she knows that all dreams must come to an end. "Grampa? I need to know what's going on" she says sadly. "I need to know why I'm here. If I'm not dead, does that mean I'm dying?"

"That's entirely up to you, little girl blue" he says to her.

"I don't get it. How is it up to me if I live or die?"

"Gozzy listen, something pretty bad happened to you, and it brought you here. And me? Well I couldn't pass up the opportunity to meet you half way"

"Half way to what?" she asks.

"You're kind of in limbo right now. And you have a pretty big decision to make. I want you to think long and hard before you make it"

"Okay?" she says. Gosalyn is very confused but continues to listen to her grandfather.

"You're still young Gozzy, and you have a lot of life ahead of you. I know it's been a really tough run for you so far, and it's only going to get harder. You are so strong and you inspire other people to be strong. And boy… your spirit… it's gotten you through some pretty tough times, and I know it will continue to do that. The question is, do you want it to?"

Gosalyn takes some time to think about what her grandfather said. She _has_ had a tough life. Her mother died when she was a baby. Her grandfather died when she was six. Her biological father is a dangerous criminal. She's had to live in an orphanage and survive multiple kidnappings and abandonment. She's escaped death more times than she can count. She's had to face so many obstacles and challenges in her short life. She's tired and the easy thing to do would be to give up. She looks up at her grandfather. "What if I don't want to go back? What if I want to come with you?"

"I don't believe for a second that that's what you want" he tells her.

"Gosalyn" she can hear a voice calling for her.

"What's that?" she asks. She looks over at a screen and can see herself in a hospital bed with Drake at her side. He is holding her hand and talking to her. She takes a few steps closer to the screen and her eyes and beak are open. "Dad?"

"I knew he was the right person to take care of you. That is why I am at peace" the professor says with a smile.

"Grampa, I don't look so good. And neither does he. If anything happens to me…" Gosalyn thinks about the time she spent in the future when she encountered Darkwarrior Duck, the overly obsessive vigilante who took crime fighting to the extreme. She knows that her father won't do well without her. She knows what she needs to do. She turns to look at her grandfather.

"Grampa, if I go back, will I remember any of this?"

"You'll remember me, but you won't remember this" he says to her. Gosalyn gets emotional and tears start running down her face. "Ah don't cry Sweetheart" He pulls her into a hug.

"I miss you so much. It's not fair" Gosalyn cries.

"Life isn't fair Sweetheart. And neither is death. I might not be alive anymore, but I am always with you. The fact is you are not meant to go with me today. And not anytime soon"

Gosalyn pulls out of the hug and looks up at her grandfather. She still has tears in her eyes. "I miss you Grampa"

The professor bends down to be at her level. "I don't want you to miss me. I want you to remember everything you've learned from me and from your father, and I want you to carry that with you forever. Will you do that?"

"Yes" she says as she wipes tears away from her face.

"Good. Are you ready?"

/

Gosalyn slowly opens her eyes and can hear her father's voice. He's been holding her hand and talking to her. She doesn't understand what he is saying to her, but the sound of his voice is soothing. Drake notices that her eyes are open and he immediately tries to get her attention.

"Gosalyn. Baby, can you hear me? Honey, squeeze my hand if you can hear me" Drake holds Gosalyn's hand with both of his hands. He waits for her to give him a squeeze. She does, and he lets out a big sigh of relief. "Thank you. That's my girl" He kisses her hand and gently rubs it.

Beth and Gwen both walk into Gosalyn's room and are equally ecstatic. Gwen checks her vitals and tells Drake and Beth that her numbers are improving. Drake gently runs his hand through Gosalyn's hair. She slowly opens and closes her eyes until she is fast asleep.

"We should be able to remove the mask soon" Gwen tells them. "We just need to make sure she's getting enough oxygen"

Beth puts her arms around Drake and holds him as they both smile at Gosalyn. They are both relieved that Gosalyn is improving. They know that they will have a challenge to face when she is able to talk. They will need to face what happened to her, and they will need to help her face it too. "One step at a time Mallard" she says to him softly.

/

It is morning, and Drake is sitting in Gosalyn's hospital room. He is sleeping in a chair a few feet away from her bed. Gosalyn slowly wakes up and looks around. She no longer has the mask on her face, and her face and arms are clean. Drake opens his eyes and notices that Gosalyn is awake. He moves his chair closer to her bed and holds her hand.

"Hey Sweetheart. How are you feeling?"

Gosalyn opens her beak to speak, but her throat is dry. "Water?" Her voice is raspy. Drake pours water into a cup with a straw and helps her drink from it. He puts it aside and waits for her to speak. "I think I had a dream about Grampa"

Drake is speechless. Gosalyn hasn't mentioned her grandfather in quite some time. "Really? What was the dream about?"

Gosalyn takes sometime to think before she answers him. "I don't remember" She looks around the room and things start to come into focus. "Why am I in the hospital?"

Drake thinks about what he should say to her. He knows that SVU will want to question her about what happened. He doesn't want to interfere with their case. The father in him wants to just hold her and protect her from what happened to her, but the detective in him knows that a proper investigation is needed if they want justice. "There was an accident, and you got hurt. But you're awake now, and everything's going to be okay" he says to her.

/

Drake is in the hospital hallway with Beth and the SVU detectives. He confirms that Gosalyn is awake but he does not feel it is the best time to ask her about what happened to her.

"Can't we do this without her?" He asks them. "Gosalyn is only fourteen. Can't you get him on statutory rape?" Drake can't even believe he is having a conversation involving his daughter and rape in the same sentence. Beth can feel his distress and puts her hands on him.

"We can, but it will be a much longer sentence if she helps us" the female detective says.

They are able to convince him that they need to do it now, or they won't be able to build a case and help her get justice. Drake walks into Gosalyn's room with the detectives. She is sitting up and she is starting to get more color in her face. The female detective introduces them. "Hi Gosalyn, I'm Detective Marsh, and this is my partner Detective Gallo.

"Hi" she says to them

"Will it be okay if we ask you a few questions?"

Gosalyn shrugs her shoulders. "Sure" She really has no idea why detectives are there to ask her questions.

Detective Marsh sits in the chair next to the bed. She looks up at Drake before she proceeds. He backs off and walks over to stand closer to the door. "I need you to tell me everything you remember about yesterday"

Gosalyn thinks for a few seconds before she responds. "Yesterday? I went to school, then after school I went for a run, and then I had dance rehearsal"

"Do you remember anything about dance rehearsal?"

Gosalyn thinks for a few seconds again. "No, not really. I don't even know how I got here. Dad won't tell me what happened"

Marsh sighs. She looks Gosalyn in the eye as she talks to her. "There was a fire at the dance studio, and you inhaled a lot of smoke"

"A fire? Again?"

"Yeah, fire rescue got you out of the building and brought you here. You were unconscious. There's something else you need to know" Marsh hesitates before she has to tell Gosalyn the worst part. She's been an SVU Detective for many years, but it never gets easier, especially when the victim is a child. "When fire rescue found you in the building, you weren't wearing any clothes"

Gosalyn's eyes grow wide. She looks over at her father. He looks at her and she can see the pain in his face. He is not able to hide it. She immediately starts to feel uncomfortable and scared. She thinks this over for a few seconds and decides to hide behind denial. "No, that can't be right. Why wouldn't I be wearing any clothes? That's ridiculous"

"Gosalyn, did you have sex with Javo?" Marsh asks her flat out.

"No" Gosalyn snaps at her. "No, I have a boyfriend and I would never cheat on him" Gosalyn starts to doubt herself. She cannot remember exactly what happened, and that scares her. What if she did have sex with him? After all, she did find him attractive. She allowed him to do things to her. She didn't stop him and she didn't tell anyone.

Marsh keeps pressing her for the truth. "Okay, is it possible that he forced you to have sex with him?"

Gosalyn shakes her head. "No"

"But you don't remember" Marsh points out. Gosalyn freezes and can't think of anything else to say. "Listen, we're here to help you, okay? We're on your side, but we can't help you if you don't tell us what you know"

"I really don't remember anything" she says as she crosses her arms tightly across her chest.

"Okay" Marsh says. "I want you to think about something, okay? There is an exam that the doctors can do. It's called a rape kit. They'll be able to determine if you've had sex in the past forty eight hours. And there isn't really a big window of time for them to do this exam. If they don't do it right away, any evidence can be lost. And, I'm sure you want the truth"

The SVU detectives leave. Drake sits on Gosalyn's bed. She is deep in thought about what Marsh said to her. "You don't have to do this, you know" he tells her.

"Yes, I do" she says with confidence in her voice. "I wanna know the truth"

/

Gwen is with Gosalyn as the doctor prepares her for the exam. She is very nervous, but Gwen is there to hold her hand through it all. Gwen was her guardian for a few years, so Gosalyn trusts her. At the same time, Gwen is her boyfriend's aunt, so there are mixed feelings there.

Drake is out in the hall pacing. He is by himself since Beth had to leave to check on Jake. He is worried about what the test is going to prove. He thinks about his daughter, and how scared she must be while going through all of this.

The doctor starts the exam, and Gosalyn immediately flinches. Gwen is there for her and encourages her to squeeze her hand anytime she feels discomfort. After the exam, the doctor takes pictures in case they are needed for evidence. After she is finished, she tells Gosalyn to relax and waits for her to get settled. She allows Drake to join them so they can talk about her findings.

"Alright, based on the physical exam, I can say that you've had intercourse in the past twenty four hours" Gosalyn starts to feel scared again. Drake is angry. Gwen puts her head down. They continue to listen to the doctor but neither of them have eye contact with her. "I was able to take samples of fluids and we'll have them tested at the lab. I also checked finger nails on Javo and on you and didn't find anything. No defensive wounds on you or on Javo, which means that we won't be able to show that you tried to fight him off"

Gosalyn is numb. She doesn't say anything. She doesn't cry. She just feels numb.

Drake is at a loss. He cannot believe that this is happening. "What about the toxicology reports? Did they come back yet?" he asks her.

"Yes they did. I'm sorry but they didn't find anything in her system" the doctor confirms. "I'm really sorry but I have another appointment that I need to get to. If you have any other questions you can call me, I'll be happy to answer them for you"

Drake is furious. He refuses to believe that his daughter willingly had sex with Javo. But the alternative isn't much better. Gosalyn looks over at Gwen and shakes her head. "You… can't tell Skyler about this. Please"

Gwen also shakes her head. "No, I can't. I'd be breaching confidentiality. Excuse me" Gwen leaves the room and starts to cry when she reaches the hall.

Gosalyn is still in shock. She still doesn't cry. Drake doesn't look at her. He is standing about six feet away from her and he is staring at the wall. Gosalyn looks up at him but she doesn't say anything. What can she say? She is confused and embarrassed. She feels violated and scared. She doesn't remember any of it, and that is what scares her the most.


	8. Ch 8 Falling Down

Drake is outside the hospital at the nearby milkshake shop. He can feel his head spinning. He's got a lot on his mind and he is distracted. He's been extremely worried about Gosalyn, especially after she would not allow him to stay with her at the hospital last night. She insisted that she was fine and demanded that he leave her alone. He gets that he can be overbearing with her sometimes. He can't help it. He still sees her as his little girl and all he wants to do is protect her. It is killing him that he was not able to do that. Somehow a monster was able to worm his way into her life and violate her in the worst way. His thoughts are interrupted by a voice of a young child.

"Look Daddy, its Detective Drake"

Drake turns around and sees Leo and Chelsea Vassar. Chelsea's arm is still in a sling, but she has a smile on her face as though everything was right with the world. For her and her family, it is anything but. Her sister died recently and her other sister is still in the hospital. He thinks to himself about how a child could be so cheery in light of what life has dealt her. He greets the Homicide Detective with a handshake.

"Good morning Detective. Hi Chelsea. What brings you two here so early?" Drake asks them.

"Chelsea had a check up this morning and then she has physical therapy. We decided a milkshake break was in order" he answers him. He puts in his order which includes a vanilla shake for him and a strawberry shake for Chelsea. Drake puts in his order for a banana shake and a mint shake, the mint is for Gosalyn.

"So, uh, how are things going? Is Chloe still in the hospital?" Drake asks lightly.

"Yeah, both my daughter and my nephew are still in ICU. My wife and my sister are with them in Duckburg. Actually, my Captain arranged for a helicopter ride for Chelsea and I, so we're going out there to visit for a few days."

"That's good. It must be hard to be apart from them. I don't know how you do it" Drake tells him.

"We do what we have to do. One day at a time, right Chels?"

"Right!" she says as she takes her milkshake from the lady. Leo helps her since she is not supposed to move her arm.

"Let me get that" Drake says as he hands money to the lady for all of their milkshakes.

"Thanks Drake, that's very kind of you"

"Don't mention it"

"Thank you Detective Drake" Chelsea says after she takes a few sips of her milkshake.

"You're welcome. You take good care of your father okay?" Drake says.

/

Skyler is hastily packing a bag at his retreat. Tank has been sleeping, but wakes up to the sound of Skyler moving things around.

"Dude, what's the big idea?"

"I'm leaving" Skyler says.

"Whoa, wait, hold it. You are not leaving me alone in this geek infested death trap" Tank says.

Skye and Tank have been on a retreat with some other kids from their school, but Tank was a non-willing participant. His parents made him go because they thought it would help round off some of his rough edges. There is no cell phone reception, so they have not talked to Gosalyn or Abby since they got there.

Tank stands and starts to gather his things. He wraps his arms around a big pile of his clothes and just throws them into his bag.

Skye stops what he's doing and looks over at him. "What are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm packing" Tank says with an attitude. He stuffs all of his clothes into the bag until he is able to zip it up.

Skye shakes his head. He doesn't have time to help Tank properly pack. He read in the paper that there was a fire, and that Javo was in the hospital. The press released his name since he is an adult, but the article does not mention Gosalyn. He has a feeling that Gosalyn was in the fire too, and he's in a hurry to get home to see her.

/

Drake walks into Gosalyn's room with their milkshakes, only to find her missing. He puts the milkshakes down and rushes to the nurse's station.

"Excuse me. Where's Gosalyn? Where's my daughter? Was she taken for tests?"

The nurse gives him a look as though he has three heads.

"Well?" Drake slaps his hand on the counter and glares her.

The nurse walks past Drake and into the room to look for Gosalyn. She checks the bathroom, which is something that Drake didn't bother to do. She is not in there. "I'm sorry Mr Mallard, I don't know where she is."

"You lost my daughter?" Drake asks with anger in his voice.

"Do you have any idea of where she might have gone?" she asks him.

Drake thinks about it for a few seconds. "I'm afraid I do."

/

Gosalyn slowly approaches another hospital room. She is being careful and looking around to make sure nobody sees her. When she is satisfied she tiptoes in and closes the door. She is wearing a hospital gown, robe and slippers. Her eyes have bags underneath since she did not get any sleep. She looks over at the patient in the bed. It is Javo. He is in a coma and hooked up to several machines. She keeps her distance from him and just stares. She desperately tries to remember the events that lead up to the fire, but she can't. The last thing she remembers is standing by the window in the dance studio and drinking her water.

/

Skye and Tank are walking down a dirt road with their duffle bags. Since they are leaving the retreat early, they are responsible for their own transportation. Skye decided that the only way to go was to hitchhike. He is walking with determination, while Tank is lagging behind.

"Are we seriously going to walk the whole way home? At this rate we'll be home the same time as those other losers" Tank says.

"You've got any better ideas, Tank?" Skye asks. He is not in the mood for Tank's antics right now, but secretly he is glad he has someone to make the trip home with him.

"Yeah, we find the nearest phone and we call a cab"

"Cabs are expensive Tank. When we get to the next town we can look into catching a bus"

"A bus. Right" Tank says. He is nearly falling asleep and continues to lag behind.

/

Gosalyn continues to stare at Javo. She hasn't moved from her spot, which is only a few steps away from the door. Drake walks in and sees her. He is relieved that he found her, and he starts to breathe a little easier. Of course she would go to see Javo. He is the only one that can help her fill in the blanks of what happened before the fire. However he is in a coma, so he is not going to be talking to anyone anytime soon. Drake softens. He doesn't yell at her, instead he calmly escorts her out of the room. She leaves with him willingly.

/

In Gosalyn's room, she and Drake are drinking their milkshakes in silence. They haven't said anything to each other all morning. Drake decides to put an end to that and sits on her bed.

"Did you get any sleep?"

Gosalyn continues to stare down at her bed and shakes her head yes. Drake brushes her hair out of her face and really sees her eyes for the first time all morning. "Liar"

Gosalyn takes a few more slow sips of her shake and looks up at him. "I'm sorry I went to Javo's room."

"It's okay. I just got so worried when I didn't know where you were. But I'm not surprised. I'm sure it's killing you that you can't remember what happened." Drake says as he continues to gently push her hair out of her face.

"I knew he was in a coma. I thought if I saw him, it would somehow jog my memory."

"You know what I think? I think that your mind is blocking it out, and when you are ready, you'll remember" Drake explains to her. "How's your milkshake?"

Gosalyn takes some more sips. "It's good. Thanks for getting it for me"

"You're welcome. Is there anything else I can do?"

"You can stop worrying. I'm gonna be fine" she lies.

"I'll never stop worrying. Someday you'll have kids and you'll understand" he says to her with a grin.

A doctor joins them and lets them know that Gosalyn can go home today. He instructs Drake to see the nurse at the nurse's station to sign the release papers. They both leave Gosalyn to change into clothes that Drake brought for her, in anticipation that they would release her today.

/

Skye and Tank have managed to hitch a ride with an older man that sings show tunes. He is currently singing "If I Were A Rich Man". Tank has been nodding off and snoring, while Skye has been staring out the window thinking about Gosalyn. He is really worried about her. He didn't bring his cell phone with him because he knew he wouldn't be able to use it.

"Any requests boys?" the older man asks, referring to show tunes.

"Ah, no. Thanks" Skye says. He goes back to staring out the window.

"What's got you down son?" the man asks as he looks up at him in his rear view mirror.

Skye looks up at the old man and then looks over at a snoring Tank. He is reluctant to answer, but there's not much else to do. "I'm trying to get home to my girl"

"Oh yeah, why'd you leave her in the first place?"

"Some kids from my school went on a retreat for a couple days. I thought I could handle a few days without her, but…"

"You miss her" the older man finishes his sentence.

"Yeah, something like that" Skye says. He leaves the part about the fire out of the conversation because he's been trying to convince himself that Gosalyn wasn't in the building.

"Young love. You're very lucky kid. You need to hold onto that as long as you can."

Skye looks at the man again. "Love?"

"Don't try to deny it kid. You have it written all over your face. You're in love with this girl"

Skye lets out a soft laugh and thinks about the man's words. That's not entirely inaccurate. In fact, it is right on the money. "I'm…. in love with her." He says out loud.

"That's great kid" the older man says with a smile. Skye continues to stare ahead with disbelief. He's fallen in love with his girlfriend. He tries to figure out when this happened. The older man starts to sing another show tune called "When Did I Fall In Love"

/

Drake and Gosalyn are greeted by Beth when they arrive home. Abby and Jake are at school since it is Friday. Beth offers to make them lunch. Gosalyn decides that she wants to take a shower first. The adults excuse her and she walks up the steps. They both watch her with the look of worry in their faces.

"Is she alright?" Beth asks her husband.

"She says she is" Drake says with his eyes still glued to the stairs.

"But you don't believe her"

"She's a tough kid. I think she's trying to make this alright for herself and for us"

"She doesn't have to do that" Beth says.

Drake looks down before he looks at his wife. "It's not healthy for her to do this. She's keeping this all inside of her and she's not talking about it. And…. I don't know how to talk to her about this. I honestly never thought I'd have to."

Beth takes his hand in hers. "We just have to let her know that we are here for her. She'll talk when she's ready"

/

Honker approaches Abby at school. "Hey, have you talked to Gosalyn?"

Abby looks up from her locker to answer him "No, Drake and Beth told me that she inhaled a lot of smoke but she's okay. She should be coming home today."

"That's good. I can't believe she was in a fire again"

"I know" Abby says. She closes her locker and clutches her books. "At least this time it wasn't set by that maniac father of hers, Negaduck"

Another female duck joins them and puts her elbow on Honker's shoulder. "Oh, hello. Should I be jealous?" The girl has a smile on her face. Honker blushes and looks back at Abby.

Abby gives the girl a curious and concerned look. She is petite and skinny with white blond hair pulled back into a pony tail, and she's wearing black pants and a purple shirt that bares her midriff. She oozes with confidence and is clearly not Honker's type. "Who's your friend?"

"This is…" Honker begins, but he is interrupted.

"Nala, my name is Nala. You must be Abby" she holds out her hand for Abby. Abby continues to look at the girl and is reluctant, but she eventually shakes her hand.

"Honker's been tutoring me in Chemistry" Nala explains.

"I see" Abby nods

"We're on our way to the tutoring center now. Can you tell Gosalyn I'll check in with her later?" He asks.

Abby is still unsure about Honker having any affiliation with this girl. She has a bad feeling. She hides it and nods her head. "Sure. Just…. be careful, okay?"

"What?" He asks her.

"Okay bye bye!" Honker and Nala watch as Abby rushes away from them.

"She seems very troubled" Nala observes.

"Don't worry about her. We should get to work" Honker says. They start walking toward the tutoring center, and Nala locks arms with Honker.

/

Drake and Beth are in the kitchen preparing lunch and folding laundry. They can hear the shower water running, and it suddenly occurs to them that the water has been running for quite some time. They both continue to work in silence, both thinking the same thing. Gosalyn never spends this long in the shower. It's been forty minutes since the shower water started running, and each additional passing minute starts to eat away at them.

Drake stops what he's doing and looks at his wife, and she looks back at him. "You thinking what I'm thinking?" he asks her.

/

The girls on the soccer team finish their run and converge on side of the soccer field. Coach watches them as they stretch and catch their breath. She notices that her team captain is not in attendance and she immediately questions Abby.

"Where is Gosalyn?"

"She's not coming" Abby nervously says.

"What do you mean she's not coming?" She asks very angrily. The other girls start to get nervous too.

"There was a fire last night. She was in the hospital. I'm sure Mr Mallard can get you a doctor's note."

"I don't want no doctor's note!" Coach screams. "I want my star players to take this game seriously and show up to practice. Everyone on the field. Now!"

The girls do what they are told and take their positions on the field to run drills.

/

Drake and Beth are standing outside the bathroom door. They can hear the shower water running, and Gosalyn crying. This scares Drake more than anything. He looks at Beth, who is also scared and worried for her step daughter. She has her arms folded across her chest, her hand clenching a dish towel. Drake puts his hand on the bathroom door handle. He only hesitates for a second, then opens the bathroom door and walks in. He slowly approaches the shower with Beth a few steps behind him. He looks back at Beth and hesitates before he opens the shower door. When he does, his heart breaks as he spots Gosalyn sitting on the floor of the shower. Her back against the wall, her arms and knees to her chest and her head buried. Drake turns off the water and grabs a towel. He wraps it around her until she is completely covered. He then sits next to her on the wet shower floor and holds her as she continues to cry. All Beth can do is stand and watch. She can feel tears running down her face. She was so stunned by Gosalyn's emotional state that she didn't even realize that she herself was crying.

A few minutes later, Drake carries a towel clad Gosalyn into her room. She is still sobbing, which causes more worry for her parents. With the fire incident still fresh in their minds, they feel like they need to handle Gosalyn with more care. She is usually very tough, so strong and lively, but right now she is about as small as an ant. This breaks their hearts. Drake sits her down on her bed and wheels her desk chair over so he can sit in front of her. She is shivering and sobbing. He adjusts her towel under her chin and she holds onto it tight. Every inch of her body is covered by her towel except her head and her feet. The ducks are speechless for a few seconds before Beth speaks up.

"Honey, maybe we should let your Dad go downstairs so we can talk."

"No, no" she speaks through her sobs. "I wanna talk to my Dad" she adds as she shakes her head and continues to shiver.

Drake is surprised that Gosalyn would rather talk to him about this. "Are you sure Gosalyn?"

Gosalyn nods her head. Drake looks up at Beth, who has been standing next to him. They can hear the front door opening, which means Jake is home from school. "Alright, I'll be downstairs if you need me."

Drake watches as Beth leaves. Gosalyn hasn't taken her eyes off the floor since the moment she was put down on her bed. Drake turns to look at Gosalyn. "Gos, are you sure you wanna talk to me about this and not Beth?"

Gosalyn continues to stare at the floor. Tears are dripping off of her face. She nods in response to his question.

Drake speaks slowly, hoping that he can get her to talk. "Okay. Well… we were worried when we noticed that the shower was running for over forty minutes. I know that you pride yourself on how you can take the shortest amount of time in the shower in this family. Can you tell me what happened?"

Gosalyn is somewhat calmer as she finds her voice, but continues to stare at the floor. "I was scrubbing…. and I kept scrubbing….. and scrubbing and scrubbing and scrubbing… and it wasn't working." Gosalyn's cries return as she tries to tell her story.

Drake can feel his heart breaking again, but he tries to get more information from her. "What do you mean? What wasn't working?"

"I couldn't get clean. I… I'm still dirty. I'm always going to be dirty." Gosalyn says as she sobs.

Drake puts his hands on the bed on each side of her. She continues to look down as she cries. "Listen to me. You are not dirty. Okay? What happened to you is dirty. But we are going to get through this." Gosalyn continues to cry and shakes her head, but that doesn't stop Drake from coaxing her to talk some more. "Gos, did you remember something from the fire?" Gosalyn doesn't confirm nor deny it. Drake starts to think that there is more going on than he is aware of. "Gos, you can tell me. It's okay."

Gosalyn sniffles as she tries to calm herself down. Then she finally looks up at her father. "You can't tell anyone about this."

"I won't tell anyone" Drake says.

"I mean it. You can't tell anyone, not even Beth"

Drake hesitates for a moment. He and Beth don't keep secrets from each other. But this might be the exception. Still, Drake can't help but wonder why he can't talk to his wife about this. "Gos, why can't Beth know about this?"

"Because, it's too humiliating" She answers him as she looks down again.

"Beth loves you. You can tell her anything Gos, she would never judge you."

"No, no, you can't… you …. you can't tell anyone…you can't…" Gosalyn says as she starts to cry again. This time her cries cause her to have problems breathing.

Drake cups her face with his hands and tries to get her to calm down. "Alright alright, settle down. Gosalyn…. Honey, you need to calm down or else you're gonna make yourself sick. Alright? Take some deep breaths for me, please."

Gosalyn does what he says and takes some deep breaths. He continues to hold her face and rub his hand down her soaked fiery red hair.

"That's it, good. Take some more breaths for me, okay?" Gosalyn continues to take deep breaths to calm herself down. Drake lets go of her and reaches for some tissues. Since her hands are under her towel he uses the tissues to dry her tears for her.

After he disposes the tissues he sits on the chair again and puts his hand on the outside of Gosalyn's leg. Without even thinking about it, Gosalyn pulls her leg away from his hand and flinches. Drake looks at Gosalyn with shock. She is looking down at the floor again. She's never flinched or pulled away from him like that. He hesitates for a few seconds before speaking. Rather than touch her again, he leans his body forward until his elbows are on his legs. His approach with her is calm and his voice is soft but firm. "Gosalyn, whatever this is, you need to tell me. And whatever you say to me will stay in this room."

"Promise?" Gosalyn says without looking at him.

"I promise. I won't tell Beth or anyone else."

Gosalyn is satisfied and nods her head. She waits a few seconds before speaking. When she does, she looks at her father's knees rather than his eyes. She knows she can't look him in the eye right now. She'll only fall apart again. "Um, it's Javo. He…before the fire he did things to me. Really…. bad things." As she continues, she grows more uneasy and her voice quivers. "During rehearsals he um, he touched me…. he groped me in some places…..he…. he put his fingers inside of me…and… and it hurt…. he hurt me and… and I let him do it. I didn't do anything to stop him." Gosalyn starts to cry again and shakes uncontrollably. Drake sits next to her on the bed, pulls her head to his chest and holds her tight.

Her behavior over the past few weeks starts to make sense to him now. Her grades have been slipping, and she's been distant. She's been in so much pain and didn't feel like she could tell anyone. Not even him. She's been going through this by herself. As he considers what she's been going through, he feels tears starting to form in his eyes and does his best to keep his composure. He cannot lose it, not now. He kisses the top of her head and waits a few minutes before talking to her about it.

"Honey, you didn't do anything wrong, okay?" He kisses the top of her head again. "But I need to ask you something. If you knew that what he was doing was wrong, why do you think you let him do it?"

Gosalyn pulls away from his embrace to answer him. She looks down at the floor again. "This is going to sound really stupid. I didn't want him to think that I was a baby. He already saw me as this little freshman in high school. And he's this big time professional dancer. I didn't know what to do."

"So you felt the need to impress him" Drake confirms. Gosalyn sniffles and nods her head. "Did you think that allowing someone older and more experienced…. do that to you would get him to treat you like you were older and more experienced?"

"I guess I thought that it would make him like me."

Drake sighs hard. He is angry but does his best to contain it. He rubs his head as he calms himself down so that Gosalyn doesn't see it. But Gosalyn knows better. She can sense his anger and mistakenly thinks that it is reflected at her. She looks up at him with tears in her eyes.

"Are you mad at me?"

"No, no I'm not mad. I'm just troubled by what you just said. You wanted Javo to like you. Gos, did you have feelings for him?"

"No!... Yes… I don't know!" Gosalyn looks down again as she is confronted with this question. "I have a boyfriend, I'm not supposed to have feelings for another guy. I can't have feelings for him."

"It's not impossible Gosalyn. Perhaps you saw something in him that made you feel attracted to him. It's not unheard of to have feelings for someone that you spend a lot of time with that isn't your boyfriend" Drake explains as he tries to ease her conscience. But it isn't working.

"I feel like I cheated on Skyler. I'm a horrible person."

"You are not a horrible person. I know you don't like to hear this but… you are still very young, and Javo took advantage of that. What he did to you is sick and it is wrong. And I wish…."

"What?" Gosalyn asks as she looks up at him again.

"I wish you would have come to me or someone else before he took it this far. I wish you would've let someone help you with this."

"I'm sorry Dad."

Drake looks at Gosalyn and considers his words for a second. "I'm sorry too. I'm sorry that I didn't see what you were going through. And now that I know, I'm going to do everything I can to help you through this."

/

At the school, Honker and Nala are working together in the tutor center. Nala starts to gain a better understanding of the material that they are going over and she's filled with excitement. They decide to call it a day and start to load their books into their backpacks. As they start walking, Nala positions herself in front of Honker and kisses him. Honker is shocked. He certainly wasn't expecting this and doesn't know how to handle it.

"What?" She asks him with a smile.

"Nothing, I'm…. just not used to pretty girls kissing me."

"Oh, so just the ugly ones then, huh?" she says flirtatiously.

Honker laughs, which makes Nala laugh too.

"Seriously though, girls aren't exactly lined up to kiss me" Honker confesses.

"Well, they don't know what they're missing. I'll see you Monday?" she asks him.

"Ah, yeah. Monday"

Honker watches Nala leave. When she reaches the door she turns and waves before she completely disappears into the hallway. He touches his beak and thinks about the kiss.

/

At the Mallard house, Abby joins Gosalyn in their bedroom. Gosalyn is towel drying her hair. Abby gives her friend a hug, thankful that she is okay. The only thing that Abby knows is that her friend was in the building when it was on fire. She does not know that Gosalyn was raped. Gosalyn prefers to keep it that way for now.

"You must have been so scared" she tells her.

"I'm fine. I don't even remember it. It's like I fell asleep and woke up in the hospital, except my throat was really sore." Gosalyn continues to towel dry her hair. "So, how bad was coach when she realized that I wasn't there?"

"Same as she always is, loud and angry. She made us do extra laps."

"Sorry Abby. Don't worry, I'll be there tomorrow" Gosalyn finishes with the towel and starts to brush her hair.

"You sure you're ready to go back? I mean you just got out of the hospital."

"I'm fine" Gosalyn says with a hint of frustration in her voice. "Let's talk about something else, please. Anything else. What happened at school today?"

"Well, Honker's got a girl" Abby says

Gosalyn's ears perk up. "A girl? Really? Who is she?"

"I don't know. I've never seen her before. She says he's tutoring her but, I could sense that there was more to it than that. She seems like too much girl for him to handle if you know what I mean."

Gosalyn laughs it off. "What, just because she's a girl? Come on, Honker was bound to get a girlfriend sooner or later."

"Still, I think we should keep an eye on them" Abby says. She is genuinely worried about their friend.

/

Beth finds Drake in their bedroom. He is sitting on the couch that they've recently purchased in case one of the kids need to sleep in their room at night. His head is in his hands and he is on the verge of losing it. Beth sits next to him and gently puts her hand on his back.

"Honey, what is it?" she asks him.

Drake shakes his head. "It was my job to keep her safe from all the bad things in this world." Drake starts to cry. He puts his head in Beth's lap and she allows him to let it out as long as he needs to.

/

It is the next morning, and Tank is rudely awakened by Skye at the bus station. "Tank! Wake up. We have to go"

Tank is groggy. "What… what… what is it? Where are we?"

"Bus is here" Skye says to him.

"Right" Tank starts to find his bearings while Skye looks for the rest of the money they had from their retreat.

"Tank, where's the money that was in here?" Skye asks him.

"What money?" Tank is still half asleep, which annoys Skye.

"The money we were supposed to use for the bus tickets, where is it?"

Tank thinks this over for a minute. "You mean the money we spent on dinner last night?"

"Tank!" Skye yells

"Take it easy Pettitte. There has to be some money left over"

"Ten dollars is not going to get us back to Saint Canard. How could you be so careless? I told you we needed to put that money aside for the bus tickets."

"I forgot" Tank says as he yawns.

"Now what are we going to do?" Skye asks in an angry tone.

A stranger that overheard their conversation approaches them. "You can go to Jimmy's"

Skye looks up at the man. "Excuse me?"

"Jimmy's, it's this establishment across the street. You can make a hundred dollars in a day to pay for your bus ticket" the stranger explains.

Tank stands up to join Skye. "Doing what exactly?"

"Whatever the owner needs you to do. Oh, it's all legal of course. You should go check it out." The stranger gets on a bus, leaving the boys to ponder the possibility of taking on an odd job to fund their way home.

/

Gosalyn and Abby are preparing to leave for soccer practice. Drake joins them in the foyer and is surprised to see that Gosalyn is going.

"Gos, are you sure you are up for this?" he asks her.

"Dad, I'm fine, really. I can't stay cooped up in this house all day. Besides, if I miss another practice Coach is going to have a coronary"

"That would probably be a good thing. Maybe then she wouldn't be such a tyrant" Drake jokes.

"Come'on Dad, we're going to be late" Gosalyn says. She has a grin on her face, which eases Drake's mind. He starts to think that maybe Gosalyn getting back to her normal activities could be good for her. The ducks pack into the car and drive to the soccer field.

/

Skye and Tank meet with Jimmy. He owns an eatery and is always looking for entertainment, the good and the bad. He tells them that he wants them to dance on stage. The boys refuse and begin to walk away, but then they remember that they are stranded and need to raise money for bus tickets.

Skye approaches Jimmy again. "There's just one problem. We don't know how to dance hip hop."

"You're in luck kid. My son Jimmy Junior over there is a natural. He can teach you some moves." Jimmy summons his son to come over to meet them. Skye and Tank give him a funny look. He is short, and doesn't look like a kid that can dance. They are shocked when he starts to show them some moves.

"You've got thirty minutes to whip these boys into shape. Think you can do it?" Jimmy asks his son.

"Sure Pop. Let's go boys" Jimmy waves his arm over his head and instructs Skye and Tank to follow. Skye and Tank look at each other and shrug their shoulders. They follow the kid into the back room to learn some dance moves.

/

At soccer practice, the girls are split into teams to run a full game. Some of the parents are there to observe, including Drake and Trina. Coach is really giving Gosalyn a hard time for missing practice, and Drake does not like it at all. Every inch of him wants to just march onto the field and yank his daughter out of there, but he knows he can't do that. If she says she's fine, he needs to trust her.

"Mallard, get your head in the game!" Coach screams. Gosalyn doesn't answer or react. She does her best to focus on what she is doing. She knows she needs to focus on soccer and block out everything that has to do with Javo. "Easier said than done" she thinks to herself.

"Mallard, watch your defense!…. Get in back of the ball Mallard!… Are you kidding me! How did you miss that shot?….. Mallard, watch your defense….you're offside Mallard!"

Gosalyn has had it. She can't take it anymore. The girls stop playing and the Coach is there in the middle of the field with them. She immediately confronts Gosalyn. "What is the matter with you today? You miss one practice and come back and play like this? This is an embarrassment to me and to the rest of your team!"

Gosalyn crosses one arm across her stomach and places her other hand on her beak. She starts to cry, and a few of the other girls try to comfort her. Drake sees her crying and starts to walk toward her.

"I can't put up with this. I tell you girls all the time. Do not bring your drama onto this field. Leave that and the crying at home where it belongs" Coach says.

Gosalyn turns to walk away but Drake is there. He pulls her into a hug and she sobs into his shirt. He glares at Coach but he doesn't say anything. Trina also joins them and is there to hear Coach's comment to Abby.

"And you, quit putting steaks in your hair. It's tacky" Coach says to Abby.

"What is the matter with you? How could you speak this way to our children?" Trina asks as she puts a hand on Abby's shoulder.

"I am not their girl scout leader, alright. I am their coach, and I am here to make them better soccer players. Soccer takes a lot of time, a lot of discipline and a lot of concentration. It leaves no time for dancing or this teenage drama. If they don't like it, they can leave. There are other girls lined up to be on this varsity team.

"You know what, we're leaving. Let's go" Drake says. He gets Gosalyn, Abby and Trina to leave with him.

"That's fine" Coach fires back. "Practice is over. Everyone out of my face, now. Go home"

/

Skye and Tank are getting ready for their hip hop dance debut. Young Jimmy has taught them some moves they could do while on stage. They only need to be up there for ten minutes and they will earn one hundred dollars.

"Dude, are you sure about this?" Tank asks him.

"It's either this or we walk home. Just, think about Abby, you wanna get home to see her, right?"

"Good point. Let's do this"

The boys appear on stage and the crowd cheers for them. There are about twenty people there enjoying lunch and cocktails. Skye and Tank both appear nervous. The music begins but neither of them moves. They look at each other and the crowd starts to yell at them to dance. They look out and see little Jimmy doing some of his moves. Skye starts to dance and Tank looks over at him like he's crazy. Skye is not a good hip hop dancer, in fact that is the point. The crowd finds his dancing hilarious and they clap for him. Tank slowly starts to get into it and the crowd accepts him too. Both boys smile and start to have fun with it.

/

Gosalyn and Abby are in their bedroom. Abby is really worried about her friend. She knows that Gosalyn would never let Coach get to her like that, unless something was really wrong.

"Coach was really harping on you today" Abby says.

"Yeah, but I guess I'm not surprised. I did miss practice yesterday and I wasn't really giving it my best today"

"She made you cry Gos, and you never cry. So, what's really going on with you?"

Gosalyn looks at Abby and it suddenly occurs to her that she cannot keep this from her best friend. She thinks it over for a few seconds before she speaks. She takes a deep breath.

"Gos?"

"Abby, I did something…. really horrible. And I'm never going to forgive myself" Gosalyn starts.

Abby gives her a confused look. "What did you do?"

"I had sex with Javo"

Abby gives her a surprised look. She doesn't say anything, and neither does Gosalyn. They spend the rest of the afternoon in silence.

/

It is the next day, and Gosalyn gets a surprise visit from Skyler. He and Tank were able to use the money from Jimmy's and catch a bus ride home to Saint Canard. Gosalyn has no choice but to invite him in. The rest of the family went out for ice cream, but Gosalyn opted to stay home. She is regretting that decision now that she is faced with seeing her boyfriend.

"I thought you were coming home tomorrow" she tells him.

"I was, but I heard about the fire, and since Javo was in the building, I had a feeling that you were there too" Skyler touches her face. "I had to make sure you were okay"

Gosalyn stares into his eyes for a few seconds, and then breaks eye contact. "I'm okay, really. I just… inhaled a lot of smoke, that's all"

"The paper said that Javo's in a coma" Skye says.

"Yeah, I guess he inhaled a lot more smoke than I did" Gosalyn turns and takes a few steps away from her boyfriend and awkwardly plays with her hands.

"Is everything alright? You seem… distracted"

"Yeah, I'm fine, I just wasn't expecting you, that's all" Gosalyn lies.

Skye starts to smile as he thinks about what he wants to say to her. He wants to tell her that he's in love with her. That he's been in love with her for some time. "Listen, there's something I gotta tell you"

Gosalyn turns to face her boyfriend. "There's something I need to tell you too" Gosalyn is a lot more firm and direct, as opposed to Skye who is light and nervous.

"Okay, you go first" he says to her.

Gosalyn's eyes find the floor for a few seconds. Once she says these words, she cannot take them back. But if she keeps this to herself, it will eat away at her. "I…. had sex with Javo"

Skye's smile slowly fades as he takes in what his girlfriend just said to him. "You what?"

Gosalyn repeats herself. "I had sex with Javo"

Skye looks down and away from her. He suddenly feels pain in his chest. His girlfriend that he is in love with just told him that she had sex with someone else.

"I'm so sorry Skye" Gosalyn says as tears run down her face.

Skye can't even look at her. He turns around and walks out without saying a word, leaving Gosalyn in tears.


	9. Ch 9 Who's That Girl?

Gosalyn slowly opens her eyes, unwilling to face the fact that it is morning. Monday morning to be exact, which means she needs to start getting ready for school. She slowly sits up and looks over at Abby's bed. She's not in it. Gosalyn starts to wonder if Abby even slept in her bed last night. During the summer she snuck out without telling her, and returned in the morning. Did she spend the night at Tank's? Gosalyn rubs her eyes and looks over at the clock. It is a few minutes after six, which means that Abby still has time to make it home and get ready for school.

Gosalyn pulls her knees to her chest and thinks about the events of the past week. She's been in a daze, like she has been watching these things happen to someone else, but no such luck. Skyler is no longer her boyfriend. Anytime they are in each other's presence at school it is awkward. He would stop in the halls and stare for a few seconds, then turn and walk away from her. She's been throwing herself into soccer and school, trying to improve on her grades and on her game. Coach couldn't be happier about that. She got her star player back. But Gosalyn isn't happy. It's been a while since she had a smile on her face.

Before she can get out of bed, she hears people shuffling in the hallway. She watches her door open to reveal Drake, Beth, Hayley, Abby and Jake. They all have smiles on their faces. Drake is holding a plate with a waffle and a candle while Beth is holding balloons. It is Gosalyn's birthday. She forgot that it was her birthday. They join Gosalyn on her bed and sing "Happy Birthday" to her. Gosalyn manages a fake grin, which doesn't fool her father.

"Come'on Gos, it's your birthday. Make a wish and blow out the candle" he says to her.

Gosalyn thinks about her wish for a few seconds and blows out the candle.

/

A few hours later Gosalyn is at school. She finishes up at her locker and slams it shut. She almost doesn't notice Honker and Nala walking toward her.

"Oh, hey Gos" Honker greets her.

"Hey Honk, Nala" Gosalyn observes the way Nala is dressed. She still cannot believe that Honker is dating this girl. She seems way out of his league.

"Honker told me it was your birthday. Happy Birthday" Nala says to Gosalyn.

Gosalyn can hear a high level of phoniness in her voice, but she decides not to bring any attention to it. "Thank you"

"So when's the party?" Nala asks her

Gosalyn hesitates for a minute. "What party?"

"Come'on, you _are_ having a party aren't you?"

Gosalyn gives Nala a funny look. She wasn't even thinking about it. "Nnno, no party. Just a family dinner"

"Oh, bummer. Well, that's okay. You can come to my party when I have one next month. And you can bring Skyler"

"Um, Nala.." Honker interrupts her, thinking about the fact that Gosalyn and Skyler are not together anymore.

"Oh, right, sorry forgot. We should get going, we have some studying to do" Nala starts to usher Honker away.

"Bye Gos" Honker looks over his shoulder at Gosalyn before completely being pulled away.

"Can you believe her?" Abby asks Gosalyn. She caught the tail end of their conversation.

Gosalyn is still staring in the direction where Nala and Honker are walking. "Who is that girl?"

/

"Who is that girl?" Taylor asks Drake at the stationhouse.

"Huh, what girl?" he asks her. He is focusing on a bunch of paperwork on his desk and he's only half way paying attention to his partner.

"That girl in Captain's office, she's here to see you" she says.

"What? Me, why is she here to see me?" Drake asks as he starts to pay more attention. The Captain joins them and tells Drake to go and talk to the woman that is waiting for him in his office.

Drake walks into his boss' office and sees a familiar face. She is an old friend from grad school. Seeing her face temporarily takes him back to a time when things in his life were much simpler. He was only responsible for himself and his studies. He snaps back into the present and greets her.

"Nora…. I can't believe it, what are you doing here?"

"Hi Drake. It's been a long time"

"Yeah, like…. eight years, right? I haven't seen you around, do you live around here?" he asks her.

"No. In fact I haven't been back here since grad school" she tells him. Her tone turns more serious and Drake takes note of it.

"Is this a happy visit, or are you in some kind of trouble?"

Nora looks at Drake and feels like she's going to faint. She is able to cover and answers his question. "There's a lot…. I need to tell you"

/

Beth and Gwen are taking a coffee break together at the hospital.

"How's Gosalyn doing?" Gwen asks her.

"She's trying to move forward. She's spending more time studying, she's being more helpful around the house and helping with Jake, it's like she's trying to keep busy so she doesn't have to think about what happened to her."

"Is she talking about it?"

"Not really" Beth answers. Gwen can hear the frustration in her voice. "She talked to Drake about it once, but other than she's been avoiding the subject. She can't hide from it, it's like this dark cloud is following her around and she's constantly sad. She can't even enjoy her birthday. We were going to have a big dinner and have you and Launchpad and some of her friends over, but she just wants a small family dinner."

"Sounds like she just needs time" Gwen tells her. "Gosalyn's a smart girl. She knows that she has you and Drake in her corner. When she wants to talk about it she will"

Beth nods and drinks her coffee. "And Skyler?"

Gwen also drinks her coffee, which is decaf. "I think he misses her. Of course he won't admit it. He won't even tell us why they broke up. He didn't even tell me about it, I heard it from you"

"I don't know either" Beth says. "Gosalyn just casually told us that they weren't together anymore and that was that"

"I miss those days when Skye was little and couldn't wait to tell me everything that happened at school. You know you're old when your kids stop talking to you about the drama in their lives" Gwen says.

/

Drake waits to Nora to tell him why she is in Saint Canard. He studies her for a few seconds and realizes that something is not right with her.

"Are you okay Nora? You don't look so good"

Nora takes a breath. "I'm okay. I just need to get this out" Nora looks at the floor for a few seconds and gathers her thoughts. She has gone through this over and over again in her head and it sounded okay at the time, but now that she is in the moment she is scared. She has big news to tell him and she has no idea how he is going to react. She knew him eight years ago, but she doesn't know him now. She has no idea what he's done with his life, if he's married, if he has kids, if he finished what he had set out to do.

Drake starts to get impatient. "Alright, are you in some kind of trouble? Nora, whatever it is, just tell me"

Nora looks up at Drake. "I have a daughter. We…. have a daughter"

"What?" he asks her.

"You and I have a daughter Drake. And she needs you"

Drake puts his hand over his forehead. "You and I have a child? How?"

Nora looks at Drake and opens her beak to speak, but Drake speaks first. "Well I know _how_. But…. why are you telling me about this now? She's gotta be what, seven?"

"She's six and a half. She hatched late" Nora says with tears in her eyes.

"And you're sure she's mine" Drake says, his tone is getting more hostile.

"There was nobody else Drake, I swear"

"No offense, but you and I weren't exactly in a committed relationship. You were free to see whoever you wanted"

"Yes I know that" she says. "But I didn't want a relationship. What you and I had worked for me. No commitment, no awkward dates, no strings attached, just sex and I was happy with that. But then…."

"You got pregnant" Drake finishes her sentence. "Oh my god" Drake turns and starts to pace.

"I didn't do it on purpose. In case you've forgotten it takes two"

Drake stops pacing and looks at Nora. "We were careful every time….. Weren't we?"

"Except one time" Nora says. "It was the day you received your acceptance letter into med school. You were just…. beyond excited. Your dreams started coming true that day. You knew what you wanted, you worked really hard for it, and Duckburg University wanted you. And we celebrated by… well you know. You remember that day don't you?"

Drake softens. "Yeah I remember. I applied to a lot of schools, but Duckburg was the best, it's the one I wanted. I knew it was a long shot but I went for it anyway. I could not believe it when I received that acceptance letter. I had to read it over and over again and convince myself it was real. And you were there, you were the first person I told"

"I strongly believe that our daughter was conceived that day. It was the only time that we weren't careful" Nora explains.

Drake looks over at Nora and starts to believe that what she is saying is true. His voice cracks a little bit. "Do….. do you have a picture?"

Nora pulls a picture out of her purse and gives it to him. Drake takes it from her and stares at it.

"Her name is Jessie" she tells him.

He slowly sits down in the Captain's chair and continues to stare at the red headed little girl in the picture. She has a big smile on her face. She is wearing a cowboy hat and her fiery red hair is in low braids. She has blue eyes like her mother. Drake starts to tear up.

"You believe me" Nora says.

Drake nods. He knows that this child is related to him. "She's my daughter. I can't believe this. How.. how is she, is she okay? Where is she? I wanna see her"

"She's in Texas. We've been living there with my friend Rachel. I didn't want to bring her here until I was sure I could find you and tell you about her" Nora explains.

Drake still has tears in his eyes, but they dry fast as he starts to get angry again. "Nora….. why are you telling me about this now? Why not eight years ago when you were pregnant?"

"I didn't want to ruin your life" she tells him.

"Ruin my life?" Drake raises his voice and stands up. "Ruin my life by telling me that I was going to be a father? How is that ruining my life?"

"We had just finished grad school. We parted ways and you moved on. You were going to med school. You wanted that for so long and you worked so hard for it. And you got into the school you wanted. I couldn't take that away from you. I knew that if I had told you about the pregnancy you would have given up your dream. And you probably would have resented us for it later"

"You didn't even give me a choice. You made the choice for me and you kept our child from me. What am I supposed to do with that?" Drake asks.

"I don't know….. get mad, throw things, do whatever you need to do now because once I bring her here, she can't be around any of that"

"I would never take this out on her" Drake says angrily. "She doesn't even know me. I'm a complete stranger to her. Are you even planning on telling her that I'm her father?"

"Yes, she will know that you're her father. And she will know that I'm the reason that you weren't in her life until now" Nora says.

Drake shakes his head. "No, Nora, you're the only person that she trusts, you can't make yourself the bad guy here"

"She's going to have to learn to trust you, because she won't have me in her life much longer"

"What do you mean?" Drake asks. "What, are you leaving?"

"Yeah, something like that" Nora says as she breaks eye contact with him.

"Nora, are you planning on leaving her with me?"

"I have to" Nora says. She looks up at Drake again and finally admits why she is in Saint Canard. "I'm dying Drake. I have a brain tumor and it's inoperable. So….. I'm not going to be here to take care of her anymore"

Drake looks back at Nora with shock. Tears start dripping down her face. He's not really sure what to say to her. He never loved her, but they do have a past and he just learned that they share a child. He slowly walks over to her and takes her in his arms. He allows her to cry on his shoulder for a few minutes. He feels for her, and his child that he hasn't met yet. He's not sure how he's going to handle this.

/

At the Mallard house, Drake is sitting on his couch staring at the picture of Jessie. He had made plans to meet with Nora and Jessie in the park tomorrow after Jessie arrives in Saint Canard. He thinks about his wife, and his children. He's going to have to tell them that he has another child out there, and that she will be joining their family as soon as tomorrow. He's mostly worried about Gosalyn and how she will react. Drake and Gosalyn have a very close bond, and now she's going to have to watch Drake bond with another daughter. He is so distracted by this conflict that he doesn't even hear Gosalyn come through the door and into the family room.

"Who's that?" she asks.

Drake is startled by Gosalyn's question and it causes him to drop the picture on the floor.

"Gos, how many times have I told you not to sneak up on me like that?"

"I didn't sneak up on you. Didn't you hear me come in? I said _hi_" Gosalyn says in her defense.

Drake rubs the back of his head and looks around for the picture he dropped. "No, sorry Hon, I didn't hear you. How… how was your day? Are… are you having a nice birthday?"

Gosalyn finds the picture first and picks it up. She looks at it before Drake snatches it away from her. "So who's the girl?"

"What girl?"

"Duh, the girl in the photo. Is she missing?" Gosalyn asks.

"What? No, no she's not missing"

"Then why do you have a picture of her?"

Drake looks down at Gosalyn. He was hoping to talk to Beth about this before anyone else, but she is still at work. He knows that Gosalyn knows him too well and he won't be able to get her to drop this without an explanation. "Honey sit down, I need to tell you something"

Gosalyn and Drake both sit on the couch.

"What is it Dad?"

"I received some pretty big news today and I'm still trying to process it. And it affects you too" he says to her.

"Does it have anything to do with the girl in the photo?"

Drake gives her the picture and she looks at it. "It has everything to do with her. Her name is Jessie. I was friends with her mother in college. We had a thing once, and then we parted ways after grad school. She came to see me today, gave me this photo and told me that she's my daughter"

"And… you just took her word for it?" Gosalyn asks him.

"I didn't believe it at first. But then I saw this picture, and… well she kinda looks like you did at that age"

"What? No way, she doesn't look anything like me" Gosalyn gets defensive, which is the reaction that Drake had expected from her.

"Gos, look at her face. Now, I know her eyes are blue, but she resembles you and your Aunt Hayley…."

"Why is she wearing a cowboy hat?" Gosalyn interrupts.

"She lives in Texas. That's where her mother raised her"

Gosalyn continues to stare at the photo. "Why did she keep her a secret from you?"

"It's a long story. We can talk about it later. Right now we are going to focus on you, and your birthday" Drake leans toward Gosalyn and rubs her shoulders. "I'm cooking a great dinner that we'll have when Beth gets home, and then we're going to have cake and presents. And then I was thinking we can play some family games, whaddya say?"

"Okay" Gosalyn says, but she's not very enthusiastic about it.

"Is there anything else you'd like to do?" he asks her.

"How 'bout you to tell me more about this girl?"

"I will, I just need you to let me tell Beth about this first. And then I'll tell you anything you want to know"

Drake hears the timer in the kitchen. He kisses Gosalyn on the head, takes the photo from her and leaves the room to work on her birthday dinner.

/

It is quiet at the dinner table. Drake has made one of Gosalyn's favorites, Spaghetti Primavera. Gosalyn has a lot on her mind, and learning that Drake has a daughter out there has only added to her stress. Drake is also thinking about Jessie, and how she is going to react to meeting him. Abby has felt on edge around the family ever since the moment she admitted to being sexually active. Although she's talked to Beth about it, she still feels weird that they know about it. Hayley is helping MacKena eat her dinner since she has trouble eating spaghetti. Beth is also trying to help Jake. Hayley attempts to break the silence.

"So Gosalyn, how was your day today?"

"It was okay" Gosalyn says with a small amount of food in her mouth. Drake gives her a look but decides not to say anything. He's been trying to get her to stop talking with food in her mouth, a habit she's had since before he met her.

"This is really good honey" Beth says to Drake.

"Thank you Dear"

"I agree, this is amazing. With you, it was always grilled cheese and BLTs. When did you learn to cook like this?" Hayley asks him

"Beth and I like to experiment. Once in a while we'll go online and look for new recipes" he says.

"Momma, I'm full" Jake says.

The adults allow the kids to watch TV in the family room while they clean up. Hayley takes this opportunity to find out why the atmosphere at the dinner table seemed so cold.

"Okay little brother, I know I'm not around much but I know a chilly dinner when I see one" she says to him.

"I don't know what you're talking about" he says has he starts to wash dishes.

"Oh, give me a break. Your kids are usually fighting for the spot light at the dinner table, but tonight they didn't say more than two words"

Drake doesn't say anything. Hayley looks over at Beth. "Beth?"

"They're teenagers. They're just going through some stuff right now and we're trying to respect their privacy" she says as she hands more dishes to Drake.

Drake decides that now is probably the best time to tell them about Jessie. He knows he needs to say something soon or he will explode. "Listen, there's something I need to tell you both"

Beth and Hayley both look over at Drake. Drake's tone causes concern for both of them. He turns to look at them. He can see the concern in their faces. Before he speaks he walks over to the door to make sure the kids are watching television and not eavesdropping. When he is satisfied, he walks back into the kitchen and joins them.

"Honey what is it?" Beth asks him.

"I had a visit today from someone I went to school with" Drake pauses to think about how he is going to explain this. "We had a fling, and today she told me that we conceived a child"

Beth and Hayley are shocked. The look on Drake's face tells them that this is no joke.

"Honey, are you sure?" Beth asks him. Drake gives them the picture and they both look at it.

"Oh my God" Beth says as she puts her hand on her chest. "She looks like Gosalyn"

"As soon as I saw that picture I knew it was true" Drake says. "I mean, she and Gosalyn are cousins so of course they would look alike"

"Drake, who is this woman and why did she keep this a secret from you?" Hayley asks.

"Her name is Nora, she…. she and I went to grad school together"

"I don't think you ever mentioned her. Was she your girlfriend?" Beth asks him.

Drake starts to feel nervous and ashamed. He didn't tell Beth about Nora since he never considered her his girlfriend. "No, she wasn't my girlfriend. What we had…. it wasn't romantic, it was just…. convenient"

"So you had sex with someone that wasn't your girlfriend" Beth says. Her tone turns confrontational, which makes Hayley uncomfortable.

"You know what, I should check on the kids" Hayley says as she excuses herself.

"I can't believe this" Beth says as she breaks eye contact with her husband.

"Bethy, listen to me….." Drake tries to explain himself, but Beth interrupts him.

"What were you….. friends with benefits? You had sex with someone you didn't even have feelings for?"

"Yes" Drake answers.

"How could you do that?"

"I'm not proud of it, believe me, it's not something I look back on and consider a highlight in my life. I…. I'm ashamed of it" Drake tries to explain.

"So ashamed that you couldn't even tell me. I am your wife Drake" Beth raises her voice and grows more upset.

Drake tries a softer approach with his wife. "That's not who I am anymore. If I was, you wouldn't have married me. Beth?"

Drake tries to hold her hand but she pulls it away from him.

"I think it's time to give Gosalyn her presents" she says before walking away from him.

/

The family is eating cake and watching Gosalyn open presents in the kitchen. Honker has also joined them. He hasn't missed her birthday since the day she started living next door to him. Some of her gifts in include clothes and makeup. The family watches as she opens her last present, which is from Drake and Beth. Drake and Beth are not standing next to each other. They are doing their best to put on happy faces for Gosalyn's birthday.

"Wow, you got me a laptop?" Gosalyn asks excitedly.

"Now you can stops using mine" Drake says.

Gosalyn gives each of them a hug and thanks them for her present.

"Honker's already downloaded a bunch of software and anti-virus programs for you" Drake explains.

"Thanks Honk" Gosalyn says. This is the first Gosalyn has smiled in a while without having to fake it. This slightly lifts Drake's spirits. He looks over at Beth and she looks back at him. Gosalyn notices their exchange and has a feeling that Drake has told Beth about Jessie.

/

Drake joins Gosalyn in her room and tucks her in while Abby is in the bathroom brushing her teeth.

"Favorite color" he says to her while adjusting her covers.

"Green. Favorite TV show"

"Where The Crime Is. Favorite hockey player"

"Marco Mason. Favorite hobby"

"My kids" Drake looks at her lovingly.

Gosalyn returns the smile "You're such a sap"

Drake chuckles. "It's nice to see you smile again" he tells her. "Could it have anything to do with the laptop you got for your birthday?"

"You didn't have to get me a laptop. I know they're expensive"

"We put a lot of thought into it, and we decided that it was time that you had your own computer. That way you can use it for school work and you and Abby won't be using mine all the time to talk to your Quackbook friends" Drake explains.

Gosalyn changes the subject. "Beth was acting weird. Did you tell her about Jessie?"

"Yeah, I did. She just needs some time to process this. Heck, I'm still trying to process this"

"Did you two have a fight?" she asks him.

Drake is reluctant to answer, which gives Gosalyn her answer.

"Beth and I are going to be fine" he tells her. "I don't want you to worry okay?"

"Okay. Dad?"

"Yeah?"

"What are you going to do about Jessie? I mean, she lives in Texas" Gosalyn asks.

Drake looks down and adjusts Gosalyn's covers some more. "Nothing has been decided yet. I get to meet her tomorrow, and then her Mom and I will talk about what happens next. If she does come to live here, are you going to be okay with that?"

Gosalyn shrugs her shoulders "I guess"

"You guess?"

Gosalyn shrugs her shoulders again. "I don't know. It's weird. You have a child out there that you didn't know about. We don't know anything about her"

"No we don't" Drake agrees. "But we'll get to know her, and she'll get to know us. And hopefully she'll accept us as her family"

"Are you scared?" Gosalyn asks

"Honestly, I'm terrified. She's not a little baby, she's six. Telling her that I'm her father is not going to instantly make her trust me"

"I was seven, and I trusted you"

Drake gives her a look "Not right away. You thought I was one of the bad guys, remember?"

"What did you expect? You wore a mask" Gosalyn chuckles. This causes Drake to laugh too. "Don't worry, I don't think she'll punch you in the gut"

"No?"

"No, I think once she sees how you are with me and Jake, she'll want that too"

"Thanks, I hope so. Good night Sweetheart" Drake kisses her on her forehead and brushes her hair away from her face. She smiles back at him and closes her eyes.

/

Drake joins Beth in their bedroom. She is already in bed and under the covers, but she is not asleep. Drake sits on her side of the bed to talk to her.

"I was thinking about this rule we made the first day we moved in together" Drake starts.

"Never go to bed angry" she says.

"Yeah, that's the one"

Beth slowly sits up to talk to him. "I'm not angry Drake. I'm upset. And I'm not sure what I'm more upset about, the fact that you had meaningless sex with someone or that you chose to keep that from me"

Drake sighs. "I'm sorry that I didn't tell you about Nora. I'm not proud of what we did, and to be honest I haven't even thought about it in a really long time"

Beth pauses to consider what Drake just said. "Were there other girls?"

"No. In fact…. Nora was my first. And then Morgana… and then you"

Beth pauses again and breaks eye contact. "How did it start?"

"You don't want to hear that" Drake says.

"I need to know"

Drake can hear the pain and sadness in Beth's voice. He decides that he needs to tell her. "I met her at a party. She was working on her thesis and she was there to observe how men behave around intoxicated women. When she didn't get anywhere with that she decided to get intoxicated to see if men would hit on her"

"Did you hit on her?"

"No, of course not. I didn't have that kind of confidence back then. But I kept an eye on her. She was really wasted and people were laughing at her and guys were grabbing at her. I made sure she got home and I slept on her couch"

"Then what?" Beth asks

"Then we talked, and she changed the topic for her thesis. She wanted to delve into the world of sex with no strings attached. We knew that a lot of people were doing it but we didn't know much about it" Drake explains.

"So you thought you would help her with this little experiment, a girl you met at a party" Beth confirms.

"I was curious about it, hell I was curious about sex period. I didn't have a girlfriend in high school or college. When Nora suggested that we…. do it, and see what all the hype was about, I didn't see a problem with it"

Beth is struggling with this and shakes her head. "You didn't feel like you were selling yourself short?"

"No I didn't. I didn't have a male role model growing up. Hayley dated once in a while, but there wasn't anyone constant in my life that could help me when it came to relationships with girls. Hayley was the best, but she avoided the subject. She taught me to respect women in general… I don't know, I guess she thought I would figure it out on my own. Nobody taught me that sex was supposed to mean something. I didn't learn that until I was actually in love"

Drake takes her hand. She allows him to, and she looks down at their hands.

"I love you Beth, I am in love with you. I don't like what I did, but now that I know that a child was conceived, I'm not really sure how to feel about it" Drake explains. "Listen, she's going to be at the park tomorrow. I get to go there and meet her. I'd really like it if you could come too"

Beth looks up at Drake for a few seconds. "I'll have to think about it"

Drake continues to hold her hand and sighs.

/

It is the next day, and Drake is sitting at his desk at the stationhouse. He is holding the picture of Jessie and recalling bits and pieces of the conversations he had with Nora and Beth. He is also thinking about the conversation he had with Gosalyn. She seems to be the only one that makes him feel okay about this. He feels encouraged by her support, and he's going to need that when he goes to the park to meet his daughter for the first time. At this time, he is not sure if Beth is going to meet them there or not. His thoughts are interrupted by Taylor.

"Good Morning Detective, bad night?" she asks him

"Yeah, something like that" Drake says as he continues to stare at the picture.

"Does it have anything to do with that girl that was in Captain's office yesterday?"

Drake looks up at his partner of nine months. In the time that they've worked together they have shared some information about their personal lives, despite the fact that they are still on a formal name basis. She does not call him Drake, and he does not call her Taylor. It is simply always "Detective".

Drake decides to tell his partner about the new addition to his family. "That _woman_ that was in Captain's office was a friend of mine from college. She came here to tell me that we conceived a child together." Drake's voice is very monotone. Taylor looks at him wide eyed.

"You have another child?"

Drake's mood lightens at the thought of having another child. He leans back in his chair. "Yeah, and I get to meet her today"

"Wow, that's huge? How… how is Beth taking this?" she asks

"Not well" He says. "I mean who wants to hear about their spouse's past sex life?"

"Not only that, I mean for the past, what, four years? She thought she gave you your first and only child. That's gotta burn to find out that that's not true"

Drake looks at his partner and thinks about this for a few seconds. "You know, I haven't even thought of that"

"Of course not, you're a guy" Taylor jokes. She takes a bite of her breakfast sandwich.

Drake glares at her. His cell phone rings and he sees that it is Beth. He stands up and takes a few steps away from his desk to talk to her. "Hey Honey, everything okay?"

"Yeah, everything's fine" she says. "Listen, do you think you can meet me at the park early today? I think we should talk"

Drake is silent for a few seconds. He's not sure if this will be a good talk or another painful exchange.

"Drake" she says over the phone.

"Yeah, sure Honey. I'll see you soon" Drake ends the call on his phone and stares ahead.

/

Drake meets Beth at the park. He sees her sitting on a bench watching children play at the playground. He walks over to her and she stands up to greet him.

"I'm glad you're here, I really need to talk to you" she says.

Drake takes her hand and holds it lovingly. "Sure Honey, what is it?"

"I wanna apologize. You dropped this big bombshell on me yesterday and I didn't even stop to think about how this is affecting you. I mean you have another child out there. You have a right to be happy about that, and all I did was make you relive something from your past that you'd rather forget about"

Drake takes Beth's other hand and tries to get her to calm down. "Beth, it's okay"

"No, it's not" she interrupts him. "I am your wife, and I'm supposed to support you, not make you feel bad about this. We can't change the past. We've all made mistakes and the past is what makes us who we are today. And I love who you are, I would never do anything to change that"

Drake smiles at her. "I love you too"

"I wanna be here when you meet her" she says.

"You mean it?"

Beth nods and kisses her husband.

/

At school, Gosalyn and Abby are eating lunch in the cafeteria.

"Can we do five minutes on this girl Nala?" Gosalyn asks

"Yeah, what is Honker doing with her? She's not his type at all. She's always smiling which is totally fake, her wardrobe is trashy and she's always hanging all over him"

"How did they even meet?" Gosalyn takes a few bites of her sandwich.

"She signed up for tutoring, and Honk was all too willing to take her on as a student. Do you think she's up to something?" Abby asks

"I don't know" Gosalyn says. "But we should keep an eye on her, make sure Honker doesn't get hurt"

Abby changes the subject. "What was up with your parents last night?"

"Oh, Dad got a girl pregnant in college" Gosalyn says casually

Abby nearly chokes on her sandwich. "What? Are you serious?"

"Yeah, he just found out yesterday. She got pregnant and never told Dad"

"He must've been pissed" Abby says

"I'm sure he wasn't too happy about it. But now that he gets to meet her he's probably a nervous wreck"

"Do you think Beth is having a problem with this? They seemed so distant last night"

Gosalyn shrugs her shoulders. "Dad said they're going to be fine. I guess we'll wait and see"

/

Drake and Beth are sitting on a bench at the park waiting for Nora and Jessie. Drake has his arm around his wife and they are both smiling.

"I'm glad you're here" he tells her

"You're about to meet your child for the first time. There's nowhere else I'd rather be"

"Good, because there she is" Drake points her out

Beth and Drake watch as Nora, Jessie and Rachel walk toward them. Jessie is noticeably small for her age. She is wearing her cowboy hat and boots, a long sleeved white and blue dress with cow print trim and blue leggings. She doesn't know that she is about to meet her father. Nora decided not to tell her yet since she thought it would be too much for her to handle. They join the ducks and introduce themselves.

"Hi Drake" Nora says

Drake and Beth stand and shake hands with Nora's friend Rachel.

Nora looks down at her daughter. "Do you want to tell them your name?"

Jessie looks up at the adults and says her name with her sweet soft voice "Jessie Joy Conrad"

Drake's heart melts. He squats to be at her level. "Hi Jessie. I'm Drake" He shakes hands with her. She looks into his eyes but she doesn't smile. She doesn't say anything. Drake smiles at her and leaves go of her hand. "Say, why don't we go give those swings a try?"

Jessie looks up at her mother. "Mommy come too?"

"Of course" Nora says. "Come on Sweetie"

Drake, Nora and Jessie walk over to the swings, leaving Beth and Rachel to get to know each other. They sit on the bench and watch as Drake and Nora take turns pushing Jessie on the swing.

"This must be really weird for you" Rachel says to her.

"Yeah, it is a little weird. Yesterday Drake had two children, and now he has three. We also have two foster kids"

"Five kids. That's a lot to handle"

Beth shrugs her shoulders. "I'm not worried. Drake is an amazing father. I just hope that Jessie sees that"

They continue to watch Nora and Drake play with Jessie on the playground.

"Jessie loves horses" Rachel says. "She grew up on our farm, so she's the happiest when she's riding horses and feeding the farm animals"

There is a long pause as they continue to watch Jessie enjoy herself on the playground. "Does Jessie know that her mother is dying?" Beth asks

Rachel starts to feel emotional but does her best to hide it. "She knows that her mother is going to heaven soon. We've been doing our best to assure her that she's always going to be taken care of. That's why Nora wanted to find Drake. She thought that Jessie deserved to know that she had a father and a family out there. She wants her to get to know Drake, and then she will let her know that he's her father"

Beth and Rachel watch as Drake and Nora chase Jessie around the playground. She is laughing as she avoids being caught by one of the adults. Beth watches as Drake catches up to Jessie, picks her up and swings her around. They both have big smiles on their faces. Beth smiles warmly and enjoys watching her husband enjoy himself.


	10. Ch 10 Life As We Know It

Drake and Beth are in their bedroom getting ready for the day. Drake is excited and nervous because he will be spending time with his daughter again, only this time she will know that he is her father. Beth notices that he is anxious and attempts to calm him down.

She approaches him from behind and gently puts her hands on his shoulders. "Everything okay Honey?"

"Huh? Oh… yeah, I'm just….. having trouble with this watch"

"Here, let me do it" Beth gently takes his wrist and buckles his watch for him.

Drake takes his wife's hand and kisses her cheek. "Thanks Dear"

"You're welcome. You know, you don't have to be nervous…."

"Me? Nervous? Hah" he interrupts her.

"No, no Honey, you're not nervous. You're just an extra tall order of heavily caffeinated coffee…. with a double shot of espresso." She puts her arms around his neck in another attempt to settle him down.

Drake gives in. "Okay fine, I'm nervous. So sue me"

Beth starts to fix his collar. "I watched you with her yesterday. You were pushing her on the swings….. chasing her around and laughing, really enjoying yourself. Nothing makes me happier than to watch you with your kids"

"Except she doesn't know that she's my kid. Today she will and…. I'm just afraid that she's not going to take it well"

"Everything's going to be okay. You'll see" she says as she finishes adjusting his collar. Drake sighs and allows himself to relax and smile, something that his nervous energy has prevented him from doing in the last forty eight hours.

/

Nora and Jessie are at their hotel in the city. Nora decides that she needs to tell Jessie about Drake before they see him again. Rachel is there too, but she sits in the background and listens.

"Sweetie, remember I told you that every person has a mother and a father?" she begins.

"Yes"

"I never talked to you about your father, and that was wrong. I should have let you meet him when you were a baby, and I should have let him meet you"

"Why didn't you?"

Nora looks away from her daughter as she thinks about her answer. "Because… I really didn't know better back then. I made a mistake, and I'm sorry. But now I need to fix that mistake, and I want you to get to know him."

"I don't want to" Jessie says softly as she pouts.

Nora puts her hand under Jessie's beak and makes her look up at her. "I need you to do this okay? I need you to have a relationship with him. When I go to heaven, he's going to be the one to take care of you"

"When can we go home?" Jessie asks.

"We're not going home. We're going to stay here in Saint Canard for a while"

"Why?" Jessie wines and continues to pout.

Rachel notices that Nora is struggling. She sits on the bed with them and tries to talk to Jessie. "Hey Sweetie, you remember what we did yesterday right? We went to the park, and you were playing on the swings and the slide with your Mom and Drake"

"Yeah, he helped me climb the monkey bars" Jessie says

"You had a good time with him right?"

Jessie shrugs her shoulders. "I guess"

Nora takes both of Jessie's hands and she looks up at her. "Honey, I brought you here to meet Drake because he's your father"

Jessie looks wide eyed at her mother. She pulls away from her, runs to the bathroom and slams the door shut, locking herself in there.

Nora walks over the bathroom door. "Jessie, please open the door"

"No, go away!" Jessie yells from the other side of the door. Nora rests her forehead on the door. She starts to feel tired and dizzy. Rachel notices and brings her a glass of water.

"Maybe you should call Drake" she tells her

/

Gosalyn is at her locker at school. Since she is alone, her thoughts go back to the day she was with Javo in the dance studio. She has a flashback of dancing with him that day, something that she hasn't been able to remember until now. This scares her. She snaps herself back into the present and slams her locker shut. She looks over and is surprised to see Skyler standing there, waiting for her.

"Hi" she says to him.

"You okay? You seemed like you were somewhere else just now" he asks her.

Gosalyn covers her discomfort and grins. "I'm okay, just surprised to see you"

/

Drake arrives at the hotel to see Nora and Jessie. Nora lets him in and explains what happened when she told Jessie about him being her father. Drake was afraid that this would happen and his nervous energy returns. He does his best to calm down and contain it. He gently knocks on the bathroom door.

"Jessie… Honey its Drake. I was hoping we could have a talk"

"No, I don't wanna talk to you!" she shouts from the other side of the door.

"Jessie Joy!" Nora scolds, but Drake puts his hand up and motions her to let him handle this.

He tries again "I know you're upset. It's okay to be upset. Your Mom and I are not mad, we just wanna talk to you. Can you open the door please?"

"No! Go away!"

Drake looks back at Nora. They both feel defeated.

/

Gosalyn and Skyler sit on a bench outside of the school. They have a few minutes before they need to get ready for soccer practice. Gosalyn feels nervous and she's not making much eye contact with him. She hasn't talked to Skyler since she'd told him about Javo.

"Thanks for coming out here with me" he starts. "I wanted to give you your birthday present"

Gosalyn looks at Skyler wide eyed. "Skye, you really didn't have to get me anything, I mean we…"

"I know" he interrupts. "I know that we ended things, but I got this for you a few months ago, and I still want you to have it"

He holds out the well wrapped present for her and she looks at it for a few seconds. She slowly takes it from him and looks up at him.

"It's okay, open it"

Gosalyn opens the present. It is a DVD. She holds it up and smiles as she looks at it. "The complete first season of 'Life As We Know It'"

Gosalyn used to make Skyler watch old episodes of "Life As We Know It" with her when they lived together. It was her favorite TV show growing up. It is a lighthearted family comedy. The show was made ten years before she was born. Aside from the monster and vampire movies, she enjoyed it more than anything else that was on television. It was a great escape from the sad and painful experiences she's had to face.

"I found out a few months ago that the producers released the first season, so it was a no brainer"

Gosalyn looks at Skyler and smiles. She really doesn't know what to say to him.

Skyler decides that he should explain himself. "Look, um…. I know that things are awkward between us, and they probably will be for a while. But that shouldn't take away from our past. We have some great memories, and despite what you've done….. I'm not going to forget"

Gosalyn looks at him and has a tear in her eye. She smiles at him. "Neither will I"

/

Drake and Nora are in the hotel room. Rachel left the room to give them some time to deal with Jessie. She is still locked in the bathroom. Nora is sitting on the bed and Drake is pacing. They haven't said a word to each other for the past half hour.

Nora has had enough. She stands up too fast and immediately reaches for her head. Drake stops pacing and notices.

"Are you alright?"

"No" she answers him with frustration in her voice. "I have had enough of this. I am getting the hotel manager up here to open this door"

Drake grabs her arms to stop her. "No, wait, I can't let you do that"

"Why not?" Nora breaks free from Drake's grip.

"Because, I don't wanna scare her. Look it's been some time since we've tried talking to her. Maybe I should try again." Drake walks over to the bathroom door and stands next to it. "Jessie, it's almost time to eat dinner. Your Mom and I are trying to think of something we can eat. Is there anything that you want?" He waits for a few seconds for her to answer, but she doesn't. "Jessie?"

"I don't wanna eat" she says

Drake sighs and tries again. "Your Mom told me that you like mac 'n' cheese. I can go and pick some up for you, would you like that?"

"No, go away! I don't like you!" she shouts.

Drake puts his hand on the door as sadness starts to set in. He decides to do what she says. "Okay, I'm gonna leave. But please, come out and talk to your Mom." He looks over at Nora as he continues to talk to Jessie through the door. "She loves you very much and she wants to make everything alright for you"

/

Drake and Beth are in their bedroom. Drake is sitting on the bed staring forward. Beth sits next to him and starts to massage his shoulders.

"I'm sorry it didn't go well today" she says to him.

"I don't understand it" Drake says. "She was so happy yesterday. And today…. it's like we flipped a switch and now she hates me"

"Yesterday was different" she explains. "Yesterday you were this goofy guy that she had fun with at the playground. But now that she knows that you are her father, she knows there's a connection, she's probably very confused"

Drake stops Beth from massaging his shoulders and looks at her. "What should I do?"

Beth starts to play with the feathers on Drake's head. "I think we need to let her come around on her own time. Let her get to know us."

"There's not much time. Nora's sick, she needs to go back to Texas for treatment. What happens then?" Drake asks in a panic.

"We have to be patient with her. She's not going to be happy about living here and she's not going to be happy about her mother leaving her here. She's not going to know how to behave around you so she'll probably act out and scream and cry a lot."

"Great, Gosalyn part two. I feel like we were here this time last year. Except this kid doesn't know me, and she already hates me."

Beth puts her hands on his shoulders again and leans in toward his face. "She doesn't hate you. And I know it's going to seem like that for a while, but once she gets to know you she's going to love you. And all of the patience and understanding you give her will pay off"

Drake thinks about Beth's words and starts to feel encouraged. He places his hand on her knee and kisses her. "Thank you"

/

It is the next day, and the family is gathered in the Mallard family room waiting for the arrival of Nora and Jessie. Drake is nervous again, and uses his nervous energy to make sure that his wife and kids are prepared for their visit.

"Now remember, no personal questions okay? We don't want to make them feel uncomfortable" he says to the kids.

"Chill out Dad. You're going to pop a blood vessel" Gosalyn says.

Drake raises his finger and opens his beak to talk back, but the doorbell interrupts him. "That's them"

"Relax" Beth says as she walks over to the door to let them in.

Drake watches as Nora and Jessie walk into the family room with Beth. He smiles at them. "Hi, it's nice to see you both again"

"Likewise" Nora says. "Jessie, do you have something to say?"

Jessie is reluctant, but she obeys her mother. "Hi" she says in her low soft voice. Abby smiles at her, while Gosalyn and Jake just grin. Jessie notices Abby's friendly smile right away and takes a mental note of it.

Drake introduces them. "These are our kids, Gosalyn and Jake, and this is our foster daughter, Abby. We have a foster son too but he's sleeping."

Nora shakes hands with the kids while Jessie watches.

"Why don't you girls show Jessie your room" Drake says. Abby takes Jessie's hand and leads her up the stairs. Jake and Gosalyn follow.

The adults watch and wait for the kids to leave the room.

"I didn't know you had teenagers" Nora says. "I thought your kids would be younger than Jessie"

"I adopted Gosalyn when she was seven. She just turned fifteen and Jake is four" Drake explains.

"And Abby and Christian are staying with us until they can live with their mother again" Beth adds.

"Oh" Nora nervously crosses her arms and looks around at the numerous pictures in the room.

"So, uh, how is Jessie doing today?" Drake asks Nora.

"She's doing alright" Nora says. "Aside from a sore bottom"

Drake immediately shoots her a glare. "You hit her?"

"I don't hit my daughter. I gave her a spanking"

"Same difference" Drake argues.

Nora slaps Drake's arm hard to prove a point.

"Ouch" he shouts as he holds his arm.

"That's hitting"

Beth can't help but laugh at her husband, but stops when he starts glaring at her. "Drake doesn't spank his kids" she explains to Nora.

"Look, I don't do it very often, so when I do she gets the message that her behavior is unacceptable. Not only did she lock herself in the bathroom all day but she was completely disrespectful to you" Nora tries to explain.

Drake continues to rub his sore arm from where Nora slapped him. "She's going to need some time to deal with all of this. Now, Beth and I have been talking and we think that you should stay here with us for a while, at least until she gets to know us better.

Nora looks over at Beth. "You're okay with this?"

"Yes, of course. You're her mother. Who better to help her with this transition then you?" Beth says.

Nora thinks this over for a few seconds and then shakes her head. "No, I don't think we should do this. I mean, if I stay here she's going to want me to be here all the time and it will make it that much harder for me to leave."

Drake positions himself next to his wife and puts his arm around her. "It's going to be difficult for you to leave regardless. Don't you think it would be better for you to see that she is alright with us here before you go back to Texas permanently?"

"I already know that she's going to be alright with you" she says with tears in her eyes. "I already see it in your kids. I have to ask though, what happened to med school? I mean, the last time I saw you you were on your way." Nora begins to regain her composure and wipes her tears away.

Drake and Beth look at each other, and then Drake looks back at Nora. "A lot has happened since then"

Nora nods her head when she realizes that that's all that Drake is going to say about the subject. "Thank you for the offer to stay, but I do need to go back to Texas in three days. But before I go there's something I need your help with"

"Name it" Drake says.

Nora looks down and breaks eye contact. "We need to find a pediatric cardiologist for Jessie"

Drake and Beth are shocked. They don't know what to say right away, so Nora provides an explanation. "She was born with a congenital heart defect. She has to take medicine every day and she needs blood work once a month. She also has asthma and uses a rescue inhaler. Before I go, I want to make sure she has a doctor that has her medical records and is going to take care of our daughter"

Drake is still speechless. Beth looks up at him and then back at Nora. "Our friend Gwen is a pediatric ER doctor, I know she can recommend someone."

Drake shakes his head and snaps out of it. He speaks softly and slowly. "Yeah…uh, I'm sure she can. Um, at the police station, you had mentioned that she hatched late. Is that why she has a heart condition?"

"Yes and no. When I laid her egg the doctors told me that her organs weren't strong enough. They kept her in the hospital and kept her from hatching so she could get stronger. But four months later they told me that they needed to let her hatch or she would die. They let her hatch and her other organs were okay, but her heart wasn't."

"I need to know everything" Drake says. "I need to know what she's been through, what kind of medicine she's taking…"

The kids walk down the steps and join the adults. Abby is carrying Christian since he is awake from his nap.

"Hey Dad, Jake and Jessie are hungry" Gosalyn says. Drake is still speechless upon hearing that Jessie has a heart condition. He's having a hard time focusing.

"Dad!" Gosalyn tries to get his attention. He snaps out of it and looks down at her. "Can we eat now?"

Drake rubs the back of his head, which he often does when his stress level is high. Beth notices and covers for him. "Yeah, we can eat now"

/

After lunch Drake, Beth, Nora and Jessie arrive at the hospital to meet with a cardiologist. Drake is apprehensive about caring for a child with a heart condition, so he doesn't want to waste any time. His top priority is setting her up with a great doctor and learning everything he can about her condition. They are greeted by Gwen and a very young looking male duck. Gwen exchanges hugs with Beth and Drake and they introduce her to Nora and Jessie. Gwen introduces them to the handsome young doctor next to her.

"This is Doctor Matt Lawson" she says

Matt shakes hands with Drake and Beth. "How do you do?"

Drake watches as he shakes hands with Nora and Jessie. He is skeptical about trusting such a young doctor with his daughter's medical needs. Beth notices the look on his face and elbows him.

"Ow!"

"Be nice" she says to him.

"Be nice? What is he twelve?" he whispers, but Matt hears him. He has been on the ground at Jessie's level, but he turns to stand up and talk to them.

"Actually I'm twenty five" he says to them with confidence in his voice.

"You'll have to excuse my criticism here, but aren't you a little young to be a cardiologist?" Drake asks.

Matt smiles at them. "I get that a lot. Don't worry I'll do my best not to feel offended"

Drake doesn't appreciate his humor and continues to question him. "How long have you been practicing medicine?"

"Five years" he says as his tone turns more serious. "I graduated high school when I was fifteen and med school when I was twenty. My parents are both successful doctors so I guess you can say it's in my blood"

Drake looks at Beth and starts to feel more at ease about Matt. He puts his arm around his wife and she smiles at him.

Matt looks down at Jessie and smiles at her. "What's your favorite color Sweetheart?"

"Blue" she says.

"Blue it is" he says. "I'm going to have my nurse set you up with a blue hospital gown, and then we're going to do a quick checkup, okay?"

Jessie looks up at her mother and shakes her head. "I don't want to"

Nora takes her hand. "Do what the doctor says"

Drake and Beth watch as Matt, Nora and Jessie walk away. Gwen sits with them while they wait for them to return from the checkup. Drake is still struggling with everything that is happening. As if meeting his young daughter wasn't stressful enough, learning that she has a heart condition just adds to the stress. Beth holds his hand and smiles at him.

"I haven't had a chance to talk to you since you got the news. How are you doing with all of this?" Gwen asks Drake, referring to him finding out that he has a daughter.

Drake looks at Beth and then over at Gwen. "I'm still reeling from all of this. She's my kid, and I had no idea that she was even born. She's been in this world for six years, she has her own personality, her own thoughts and feelings, and her likes and dislikes. Me, being one of her dislikes"

"That won't last" Gwen says. "She just has to get to know you"

"You and Beth make it sound so easy"

"I didn't say it was going to be easy" Gwen corrects him. "When Skyler came to live with me he was a handful. He was a sweet kid, but when his parents died it changed him. He did everything he could to let me know that he was unhappy. It took some time, but eventually he got used to me and his new home, he started smiling more and he let me into his heart"

"Thanks Gwen, but that's a little different" Drake says. "Skye knew you already, you are his aunt"

"I didn't spend a lot of time with him. My sister lived so far away, I only got to see him once or twice a year"

"What did you do to get him to settle down?" Beth asks Gwen.

"I'm not gonna lie. It was rough. He cried a lot for his parents, he really didn't understand why they couldn't come for him. There were many nights when I had to sit at the dinner table with him for two hours because he refused to eat his dinner. He was sad and angry and it was hard to watch, but I stuck by him and made sure that he felt loved. And I didn't let him get away with anything."

Drake and Beth look at each other and think about Gwen's words.

/

Three days have passed, which means it is time for Nora to go back to Texas. She has already said goodbye to her daughter and she is now at the airport with Drake. They both hear the announcement that her plane is starting to board the first section of seats.

"That's you" Drake says to her.

"Yeah, I guess it is" Nora says slowly. There is so much that she wants to tell Drake, and she's afraid that she is going to forget something.

Drake notices her growing anxiety and puts his hands on her shoulders. "Hey, are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah I'm okay. Before I go there are some things I should tell you"

The announcement calls for the second section of seats to board.

"Jessie has this blue blanket, she needs to take it with her when she goes for blood work"

"Okay" Drake says as he looks over at the people standing in line to board the plane. He notices the line growing shorter and shorter.

Nora continues. "She likes when I sing to her and play the guitar. You don't play the guitar, do you?"

Drake shakes his head. "No, but I suppose I could learn"

"Good, ah, she's in first grade, so when you enroll her in school, make sure they know that. She's still working on her letters and she doesn't know how to read yet. But she's really great with numbers. She doesn't like vegetables but she needs to eat them, they're good for her."

The announcement calls for the third section of seats to board.

"She needs to have her inhaler with her at all times. I also keep one at the house and one at school, so you might want to do that too. Uh, she just started acrobatics in Texas and she seemed to like it so you might want to see if they have acro classes here. She also likes farm animals and riding horses…."

Drake gently takes her hands and interrupts her. "Nora, I'm going to take really good care of our daughter, I promise"

Nora has tears in her eyes. "I know you are. And I should have known that eight years ago, I'm so sorry I kept her from you"

The announcement calls for the fourth section of seats to board, and Drake starts to get nervous about Nora missing her plane. "Look, Nora, you did the right thing by bringing her here. And now I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that she has everything she needs. Right now, you need to get on that plane and get back to Texas for treatment"

Nora nods and accepts a hug from Drake. When she lets go, she wipes her tears and proceeds to board the plane. Drake stays until the last person boards and the door is shut. He remains there for a few more minutes and reality stars to sink in. He is now solely responsible for Jessie, a child that has not yet accepted him. She is at his house, but she doesn't want to be there. He thinks about some of the things that Nora told him in the few minutes she had before boarding the plane. He needs to enroll her in school and activities. He needs to make sure she does her homework and eats her vegetables. He needs to make sure she takes her medicine and has her inhaler with her at all times.

Drake sits down and looks over at the window. He can see the airplane slowly leaving the terminal. Sadness starts to sink in, sadness for his daughter who won't have her mother with her anymore.


	11. Ch 11 The Trouble With Jessie

Drake returns home to find that Jessie's bedroom furniture has been delivered. Launchpad is also there. Beth had called and asked him to help assemble it. She introduces Launchpad to Jessie.

"How's it going little lady?" he asks her, but she doesn't respond. Gosalyn greets Launchpad with a hug. Drake walks into the family room and greets him with a handshake and pat. They carry the furniture up the stairs and get started right away.

Launchpad doesn't waste any time and immediately asks Drake about the new addition to his family. "So, uh, you must've been pretty psyched to find out that you had a daughter"

"I'm feeling a lot of things about it. First I was angry…. with Nora for not telling me about her. Then amazement sunk in, and now I'm nervous and scared and terrified "

"You didn't say happy"

Drake looks up at Launchpad. "I'm happy about it. It's just hard to be happy when the kid doesn't even like me"

"Gwen did mention that" Launchpad says. "I wouldn't worry about it. Your kids are crazy about you. She'll come around"

"This is an interesting turn of events" Drake says as he thumbs through the huge packet of instructions. "Not too long ago I was the one giving you advice on parenting. Does this mean you no longer feel apprehensive about the triplets coming?"

"You know something? I'm not as nervous about it anymore. Gwen and I have started buying things for the babies and we've been talking to other parents that have triplets, so that's really been helping me feel less nervous and more excited. I can't wait to see them"

Drake smiles at Launchpad, and then frowns when he takes another look at the instructions. "How are we supposed to understand any of these instructions?" Drake asks.

Launchpad laughs at him, knowing that Drake has never been the handy type.

/

After dinner, Drake sends the kids upstairs because it is time for baths. Jake happily takes his bath first while Jessie sits in her room and waits. She looks around the room that now has her furniture and toys. She also has her cow print bedspread, which Gosalyn finds tacky. Drake comes into the room for Jessie, only to be stopped by Gosalyn.

"Dad, you have got to do something about this"

Drake rubs the back of his head. He is confused by Gosalyn's statement. "What are you talking about?"

Gosalyn points over at Jessie's bed. "I'm talking about that weird ugly bedspread of hers. It clashes with everything in this room"

"Gosalyn, you are being ridiculous, okay? That is Jessie's side of the room and she can decorate it however she wants."

Gosalyn crosses her arms and glares at her father, but he decides not to acknowledge it. He walks past her and approaches Jessie.

"Jessie, come on Sweet Pea, time for your bath"

Jessie stays seated on her bed and doesn't obey her father. Despite his friendly demeanor, she starts to feel nervous when he approaches her. He holds out his hand for her. "Come on"

"No" she says. She crosses her arms and looks away from him.

"No? Jessie this is not a request. Everyone needs to take a bath tonight. Now let's go." He takes her hand but she pulls it away from him. When he tries to pick her up she starts to kick and scream. He decides that he needs to be patient with her, so he sits on the bed and waits for her to calm down on her own. Abby notices that Drake is struggling so she tries to help.

"I can give her a bath" she says.

Drake considers Abby's offer and looks over at Jessie. "Will you let Abby give you a bath?"

Jessie nods her head, hops off the bed and leaves the room with Abby.

/

Drake joins Beth in the family room after reading to Jake and putting him to bed. Beth notices right away that things are not going well for her husband.

"What happened?" she asks him.

"Jessie wouldn't let me give her a bath. But she did allow Abby to help her"

"Jessie has taken a liking to Abby" Beth says.

Drake turns to face his wife. "Why do you think that is?"

"Probably because she knows she's not related to Abby. There're no expectations and no pressure."

"Do you think I'm pressuring her?" Drake asks.

"Not at all. The pressure is there whether we like it or not. The pressure to fit in and be liked by your own family is a pretty powerful thing." Beth tries to explain.

Abby walks down the stairs with towels in her hand for the laundry. Drake stops her to find out about Jessie. "Hey, is she okay?"

"She's fine" Abby says. "You know I love Christian to pieces, but I've always wanted a little sister. So anytime you need help with Jessie just say the word."

"I might have to take you up on that" Drake says. "She won't even let me give her a bath"

Abby shakes her head and chuckles. "I asked her about that. Her mother taught her that boys shouldn't see girls naked, she already knows that boys and girls are different."

"But I'm her father" Drake argues as he puts his hand on his chest.

Abby shrugs her shoulders and Beth chuckles. Drake lets Abby take the towels to the laundry and then walks back into the family room to sit with his wife. "I'm sorry Honey" she says to him.

"She is so different from Gosalyn and Jake. I mean, with Jake we still need to fight with him to keep his clothes on at school"

"And Gosalyn?" Beth asks.

"Gosalyn didn't know what it meant to be modest. Being naked didn't really bother her. She just hated being bathed. She hated soap."

"Well that's a problem. How did you deal with it?"

"I didn't give her a choice. But with Gosalyn I didn't have to worry about winning her over. I had already done that. It's different with Jessie." Drake frowns and roughly rubs his head with his fingers. "She doesn't like me and she doesn't trust me"

"Hey, look on the bright side. At least we don't have to worry about Jessie keeping her clothes on at school" Beth jokes. She smiles when she sees that Drake got a chuckle out of her comment. "You just need to give her time. Let her lean on Abby for a while until she gets used to us"

/

Gwen and Launchpad arrive at the house the next day to pick up Jake. They are taking him to the zoo. Drake opens the door for them and Jake charges at Launchpad. Launchpad picks him up and gives him a hug, earning them big smiles from Drake and Gwen. Gwen notices that Jessie is sitting in the family room playing with a doll and gets an idea.

"You know what? We should take Jessie too"

Drake looks over at Jessie and thinks about Gwen's offer, but he turns her down. He's afraid of how she will behave with them. He plans to have the girls watch her while he goes to work.

"I don't think it's a good idea" he tells them.

"Oh, come on Drake. We can't take one kid and not the other" Launchpad argues. He still has Jake in his arms.

Drake looks over at Jessie again. She isn't listening to their conversation. "What if she gives you a hard time or acts up? You won't have any fun"

"Drake, we have triplets coming in a few months. We can certainly use the practice. Besides, she's our niece, we should get to know her" Gwen says.

"Oh, alright. But don't say I didn't warn you." Drake looks over at his daughter. "Jessie, Sweet Pea could you come here please?"

Jessie remains seated on the floor and continues to play with her doll. She looks over at her father to see what he will do about it.

Drake is not amused, but he does his best to be patient. "Now please"

Jessie stands up and walks over to the ducks in the foyer, tightly clutching her doll in her arms. Drake explains to her that Launchpad and Gwen are taking Jake to the zoo, and he asks her if she'd like to go too. She innocently nods her head, much to the relief of Gwen and Launchpad. They are looking forward to spending time with her.

"Okay, I'll get their car seats for you and some juice boxes, and Jessie needs her inhaler" Drake instructs as he moves quickly to pack some things that the kids might need.

/

Drake arrives at work and greets his partner. She is aware of the new addition to his family since Drake has been off work for the past couple of days. Drake wants to get right to work, but Taylor wants to know about Jessie.

"So, how was it meeting your daughter?" she asks him.

Drake looks up at her and doesn't know what to say right away. The past week has been both amazing and difficult at the same time. He is happy about his daughter, but he's also frustrated. He's having a hard time getting her to open up and allow him to get close to her. He's having a hard time feeling like a father to her. He feels himself frowning and tries to smile and hide it. "It's ah….. it's been interesting"

"She doesn't like you, does she" Taylor sums it up, earning herself a glare from her partner. "Don't feel so bad. I didn't like you when I first met you either. But, you have this way of growing on people."

"Oh yeah? Does that mean I'm starting to grow on you?"

"Let's just say you're lucky you have kids" she says with a smile. "So she's six, which means she's going to be going to school with my son. Have you enrolled her yet?"

"Not yet" Drake says. "We have her working with a tutor to catch up to the other first graders"

The Captain joins them to fill them in on case that just came in. A man has reported his twenty four year old girlfriend missing. Drake and Taylor immediately leave to investigate the location of where she was last seen.

/

Abby and Tank are fooling around in his room. There is rock music playing so that his family doesn't hear them. Abby is lying down on his bed with him on top of her. She is holding his face as they kiss. Tank has his hand on her hip and slowly starts to slide it up her shirt, but to Abby's surprise he stops. She abruptly stops kissing him and stares into his eyes.

"Why'd you stop?" she asks him.

"What?"

Abby continues to look into his eyes and decides to stop asking questions. "Never mind" They start to make out again, but Abby starts to notice that he is kissing her differently. She stops him again. "Okay Muddlefoot, what's the deal?"

They both sit up and Tank gives her a confused look. "What are you talking about?"

"Something's different. Do you not want to do this?"

"Are you kidding?" Tank asks her sarcastically. "Have you seen you?"

Abby allows herself to chuckle, but then she turns serious. "Look I'm not turning all teenage girly girl on you, I just wanna make sure that this is something that you wanna do right now. Because if you don't…."

Tank interrupts her. "Alright, alright, you're right…. Abbs. There's something that I want to talk to you about." He uses his remote control to lower the volume on the music.

Abby gives him a funny look. "You're so serious. That's so non-Tank of you"

"Yeah, I know. And if you tell anyone I swear I'll deny it"

Both of them laugh, but Tank turns serious again. "Look, ah, I've never really done this before"

"You mean you've never had sex? I'm shocked" Abby jokes, but then thinks better of it when she sees that Tank is really trying to have a serious conversation. "I'm sorry. What haven't you done before?"

"You knew going into this that I've been with other girls, and you've been with other guys. The thing is, all the girls I've been with have had certain expectations of me. And you don't"

Abby considers this for a few seconds. This is the first time that they've had a serious conversation about anything, so she starts to feel uncomfortable. She looks down and starts to play with her fingers.

"Are you okay" he asks her after a few seconds of silence.

Abby looks up at him and gives him an awkward smile. "Yeah, I mean it's just funny that…. with all the guys I've been with, we didn't discuss it, we didn't talk about it, we didn't analyze it, we just _did_ it. And with all the girls you've been with, they've _wanted_ to talk to death about it until they were blue in the face. They were probably all worried that they didn't…. measure up or that you wouldn't call them the next day."

"You're not like that" Tank says.

Abby shrugs her shoulders. "No, I'm not. Is that a problem?"

Tank moves to sit closer to her and tries to assure her, but at the same time she inches away from him. "No, it's not a problem. But… hear me out okay? You and I started out on this physical attraction we had for one another. We started making out, we started having sex, and it's been freak'n fantastic. But maybe now I want more from you."

Abby glares at Tank. She really doesn't know where he is going with this. "What exactly do you want?"

"I wanna get to know you. The _you_ that you hide from the rest of the world."

Abby doesn't respond. She and Tank have had a good thing going, but he had to go and spoil it by turning all "high school girl" on her and talk about their relationship.

/

Drake and Taylor arrive at the missing woman's apartment. Her name is Molly Bristle. They are interviewing her landlord.

"Does anyone ever come by the apartment to visit her" Drake asks him

"No, Molly pretty much keeps to herself. I never see her bring anyone up here"

Taylor looks around the apartment to see if she can find any clues as to where Molly could have gone.

Drake continues to question the landlord. "Do you know her well? Well enough to say if she'd have a reason to leave on her own?"

"She's lived here for four years. Always pays her rent on time, very friendly with the neighbors and their kids. But other than that we don't hear a peep out of her." The landlord is very confident in his answers, so Drake and Taylor don't cast any suspicion. They leave with a warning that they might return with more questions.

/

Drake and Taylor discuss their findings as they walk back to the patrol car.

"Okay so far there is no family in the picture, no ex-boyfriends…" Drake says

"Just her current boyfriend that reported her missing" Taylor adds.

"We know she's lived here for four years, but where was she before that?"

Taylor opens her car door. "It's almost as if she appeared out of thin air four years ago…"

"What, after ending a life somewhere else?" Drake asks. "You thinking witness protection, or a girl just trying to start her life over?"

"I don't know, I do know that it's getting late and we're out of leads, so we should pick this up tomorrow." Drake starts the car and drives them back to the stationhouse. He'd like to get home to his family and make sure the kids did okay at the zoo.

/

When Drake arrives home, Gwen and Launchpad are already there. They are sitting in the family room with Beth drinking tea and coffee. Drake joins them and greets his wife with a kiss.

"So, how was the zoo?" he asks them.

Launchpad and Gwen look at each other and express guilty smiles, which causes Drake to dread his next question.

"Oh no, what happened?"

"Nothing happened. We had a good time" Gwen says as she rubs her pregnancy belly.

But Drake isn't fooled. "Alright, please tell me the truth. Did the kids behave for you? Or more to the point, did Jessie behave for you?"

Gwen expresses a guilty grin again. She knows that she needs to tell him the truth. "Ah, look I don't want to get her in trouble"

"It's alright, just tell me what happened"

Gwen takes a breath and lets it out. "Okay. She just wasn't obedient. You know, anytime we told her to do something she'd do the complete opposite"

"Yeah, like when we told her we had to keep walking she didn't want to" Launchpad adds.

"Or when I told her to hold my hand she wouldn't. She also wouldn't eat her dinner"

Drake sighs and rubs his eyes. "I'm so sorry you guys, but I did warn you remember?"

"Yeah we know" Gwen says as she takes Launchpad's hand. "Look we'd like to take her and Jake out again sometime when things settle down. I hope that's okay"

Drake and Beth look at each other. Both of them are surprised. "Yeah, sure" Drake says. "Thank you for taking them both today"

"You're welcome. We should get going" Gwen says. The adults stand and say their goodbyes.

/

A few hours later, Drake sits in the family room and starts reading through some paper work. Gosalyn, Abby and Jessie walk into the room. Jessie is holding Abby's hand.

"Drake, Jessie would like some ice cream" Abby says. Since Jessie doesn't talk to Drake yet she depends a lot on Abby to do the talking for her. Drake is not happy about that, or about Jessie's behavior at the zoo earlier in the day.

"No, no ice cream" he says. He goes back to reading the paperwork.

Abby looks down at Jessie. "Sorry kid, no ice cream"

"But I want ice cream" Jessie wines.

Drake looks over at his daughter. "Jessie Dear, I am not happy about your behavior at the zoo today. You didn't listen to Aunt Gwen or Uncle Launchpad, and you didn't eat your dinner. So you cannot have ice cream. Not tonight"

Jessie pouts and stomps back to her room. On some level Drake gets a kick out of it. As disrespectful as it is, he finds it kind of cute.

"Wow, you're gonna pay for that one" Abby says jokingly.

"As if I'm not paying for it already. I hate saying no, but I can't reward her for bad behavior"

"I'll go make sure she brushes her teeth and gets to bed" Abby says. She rushes off after Jessie.

Gosalyn sits and joins her father. "Hey kiddo, did you finish your term paper?"

"Yep, it's all typed up and ready for tomorrow" she says proudly.

"Great job. I'm really proud of you for turning things around with your school work" he says as he pats her on the back.

"Thanks Dad"

/

Abby walks into her bedroom to find Jessie sitting on her bed crying. Gosalyn also walks into the room a few minutes later and grimaces. She doesn't understand why Abby is being so kind to Jessie.

"Jessie, why are you crying" Abby calmly asks her.

Jessie wipes her tears as they are replaced by more tears. "He's so mean. I hate him"

"Don't say that!" Gosalyn shouts.

Abby is shocked. She looks over at Gosalyn with wide eyes. "Gosalyn"

"I mean it" Gosalyn says as she makes her way over to Jessie's bed. "Do not say bad things about our father. He is the best father in the world and you are darn lucky to have him."

Gosalyn waves her finger angrily as she scolds Jessie. Abby is stunned. She's not sure where this is coming from. "Gosalyn chill out. She's just upset" Abby says to her.

"I don't care. She has no idea how lucky she is." She turns her attention back to Jessie and continues to yell at her. "Dad lives for his kids and he would die for his kids. He's the kind of father that will always have your back no matter what, even if he doesn't agree with you. It's not his fault that you're too bratty to see it"

Abby pulls her friend away. "Okay, that's enough. Why don't you go somewhere else for a while and let me handle this?"

"You're kicking me out?"

"That's right" Abby says as she closes their bedroom door on Gosalyn. She crosses her arms and glares at the door.

/

The next morning, Drake walks into the kitchen and greets Beth with a morning kiss. She is washing dishes and Jake is eating breakfast. Beth is surprised to see that Drake is wearing his bathrobe. He is usually dressed for work when he comes into the kitchen.

"Honey, why aren't you dressed? You're gonna be late" she asks him. Drake holds up two of his shirts to show his wife. They are each cut at the bottom. Beth takes a break from washing dishes and looks over at them. "Oh my"

"Every single shirt in my closet has been attacked by scissors"

"Jake, did you do this?" Beth asks him.

"Nope"

"Jake Mallard don't lie to me" Beth reprimands. Drake is steamed but he is pretty sure that his son didn't do this.

"Beth, I don't think it was Jake" he says. They look over at the door where Abby and Jessie are now standing. Drake walks over to Jessie and confronts her about the shirts.

"Did you do this?" he asks her. But she doesn't answer him. Abby looks down at Jessie. She's not sure if she should say something. Drake gets impatient and brings himself down to Jessie's level. He roughly grabs her arms. "Look at me. Did you cut up my clothes?"

Jessie stares at Drake like a deer in the headlights. She still doesn't say anything, which makes Drake even angrier. "Go to your room" he orders. She does what he says and leaves the room. Nobody says anything. Drake stands up and walks over to stand next to his wife again. She rubs his back in an effort to calm him down. This works for a few seconds, until Gosalyn storms into the kitchen and shows him what is left of term paper. She immediately blames Jake.

"Dad! Jake cut up my term paper" she shouts.

"Nah uh" Jake says from his booster seat. Gosalyn glares at him until Drake explains to her that Jake didn't do it.

"Dad, look at this! It's ruined. All that work I put into it and its gone"

"Honey calm down, now this is the typed up version right? Do you still have the hand written version?" Drake asks her.

"Of course not! Why would I need that?"

"Did you save it to your computer?" Beth tries to help. But Gosalyn yells at her too.

"No, I typed it up on the school computer so I could print it. They don't let you save your work on those computers"

"Gos, I'm sorry. Look, when I come home from work I will help you retype it, okay? We'll work on it until it is all finished. And…. I'll pick up some discs on the way home so you can save it and print it out at school." Drake tries to assure her, and it starts to work. She is still upset but she lowers her tone.

"Dad, it's due today. What am I supposed to tell Mr Featherman, that my head case of a sister ate my homework?"

"Gos, do not say that about Jessie, alright? I know you're upset but you need to let me handle this. I will call Mr Featherman today and explain to him what happened."

"And Jessie?" Gosalyn asks. She puts her hands on her hips and waits for her father to answer.

"I will deal with her. Just eat your breakfast and make sure you are on time for school." Drake starts to leave the kitchen but Beth stops him. She shows him a shirt that wasn't cut up. It was part of a load of laundry from the previous night. He takes the shirt from her and gently kisses her on the cheek.

/

After getting dressed and settling down, Drake walks into the girls' room to talk to Jessie. She is sitting on her bed with her arms wrapped around her legs. He calmly sits on her bed and waits for her to acknowledge him.

"You know, I've been trying to figure out the appropriate punishment for you and I think I came up with a pretty good one" he starts. He shows her the pair of scissors that she used to cut up his clothes and Gosalyn's term paper. "Since you cut up all of my clothes and Gosalyn's term paper, maybe I should cut off your braids"

Drake would never do such a thing, but Jessie takes him seriously and panics. She throws a fit, then grabs her blankets and hides underneath of them. Drake waits a few seconds before removing the blankets that are covering her head. She grabs her braids and squeezes her eyes shut.

"Relax, I'm not gonna do it" he says calmly. "But I am going to punish you. For the rest of the day you are going to stay in here and think about what you did, and how you felt just now when I told you I would cut off your braids" Drake moves a foot closer to her and continues to talk to her. "It is unacceptable for you to touch and ruin other people's things. And if you do it again, you will be in even bigger trouble. Do you understand me?"

Drake waits for her to answer, but she doesn't. He puts his hand under her beak and makes her look at him. "Answer me please"

Jessie nods her head, and Drake decides that that's probably the only response he is going to get from her. He leaves the room and continues to get ready for work.

/

Abby takes a seat across from Gosalyn in the cafeteria during their lunch period. Gosalyn notices that she hasn't said a lot and asks her about it.

"What's up with you?"

Abby looks up at Gosalyn and pauses. "What do you mean?"

"Well, let's see, you and Tank barely said two words to each other on the way to school today, and you aren't saying much now" Gosalyn explains.

Abby plays dumb and laughs it off. "It's nothing. Everything's fine"

"Oh give me a break" Gosalyn says. "You are a terrible liar. Haven't I taught you anything?"

Abby plays with her food and considers telling Gosalyn what is on her mind. Her thoughts are interrupted and she flinches when Gosalyn calls her name. "Abby"

"Okay. Its relationship stuff so I figured you didn't want to hear about it"

"Trouble in paradise?" Gosalyn asks.

"Tank's starting to ask questions. You know the personal stuff. He said he wanted to know the real me, the me that I hide from the rest of the world"

Gosalyn is surprised. "Really? That's so non-Tank of him"

"I know" Abby agrees. "So I froze, I didn't know what to say. Things have been so easy with Tank without having to label or define what we are, but now…."

"Now he's the one asking you where things are going" Gosalyn interrupts.

"He didn't put it _that_ way. He just wants us to know each other on a more personal level, and have more than just the sex and making out"

Gosalyn grimaces. She prefers not to think about her best friend and her neighbor having a sexual relationship. Despite her current single status she tries to offer her friend advice. "Maybe you should try it, you know? If Tank cares enough to want to get to know you, then you should throw him a bone"

"You mean, tell him about my Mom and Stepfather?"

Gosalyn nods. "That's a start"

Abby grows nervous and looks down and away from Gosalyn. The Mallards are the only ones that know what really happened last year, and Abby is afraid of anyone else knowing. She doesn't want anyone at school to know what she's been through.

Gosalyn continues to push her friend. "Look, you don't have to do this. But if you and Tank want to get to know each other on a more personal level, you're gonna have to talk about the hard stuff"

/

Drake is sitting at his desk at the station house in front of his laptop. He logs on and starts to skype with Jessie's mother, Nora. He shows her two of his shirts that Jessie took scissors to.

"Oh my" she says and tries to avoid giggling, but she can't help it.

"You think this is funny. That's just great, go ahead, laugh it up" Drake says.

Nora finishes her giggling. "I'm sorry Drake. But I told you before, you can't let her get away with stuff. Especially right now because she's gonna test you"

Drake frowns and rubs his head hard. "Well what would you suggest I do? Other than lock her in her room all day and monitor her every time she has access to scissors."

"I know you think she's as fragile as glass because she has a heart condition, but you can't think of her that way. She needs discipline. Don't be afraid to be hard on her."

Drake falls silent and thinks about Nora's words. They end their conversation and Drake closes his laptop. Taylor joins him with a file containing more documentation on the case they are working on.

"Turns out our ever so helpful landlord has a police record and a history of restraining orders" Taylor shares as she thumbs through the file. She gives some of the sheets to Drake so that he could read them.

"Is that right?" he says.

"I say we play it cool, let him be cooperative, make him feel like he's helping us with the case…." Taylor says

"All the while we'll be suspecting him of being involved and hope that he slips up" Drake finishes her sentence. As he reads through some of the paperwork he is temporarily able to shift his thoughts from his problems with Jessie to the case he is working on with his partner.

/

Drake arrives home and is greeted by his wife with a kiss. She had spent the day at home with Jessie since Drake had to work. She will be working a few night shifts until Jessie can go to school. Drake is also greeted by Jake, who is clinging to his leg, waiting for his father to pick up his foot and try to walk. Drake plays along and tries to walk while Jake holds on. He starts to laugh after three steps and then he lets go. Drake picks him up and hugs him. He then tickles him until he gets Jake to laugh out loud. He puts him down and asks his wife about Jessie.

"So how did it go today? Any more wardrobe or homework mishaps?" he asks her.

"No, I couldn't find anything else that she attacked with scissors. I checked on her a bunch of times and she worked with the tutor for a few hours in the kitchen."

For a moment Drake is satisfied, but he quickly becomes suspicious. He gives his wife another kiss and walks upstairs.

/

Drake arrives in the girls' room to find a mess. Jessie had taken all of her things, including her toys, clothes and bedspread and put them in a big pile near the closet in their room. In a way, she obeyed her father by not touching anyone else's things. But he didn't say anything about Jessie touching her own things. He immediately becomes angry and raises his voice.

"Jessie, what have you done? Is this everything you own?" Drake points to the pile and angrily looks at his daughter. She nods her head and looks over at the pile of her things. "Young lady, we have rules in this house. Everyone has to keep their things in order. That means clothes in bureau drawers, toys in the closet and the bedspread and pillows on the bed. Not in the middle of the floor." Jessie doesn't say anything. She has her hands behind her back and she is looking innocently at Drake. He sees the look on her face and immediately softens. "Look, I need to go help Gosalyn re-type her term paper. You know, the one that you cut up with scissors. So I'm going to go downstairs, and in one hour I'm going to come back and all of this stuff had better be put back. Understand?"

Jessie waits a few seconds, and with each passing second Drake is growing more angry and impatient. She finally nods her head to let him know that she understands. Drake continues to look at her. He's not confident that she will put everything back, but he knows that he needs to give her a chance. He leaves the room to join Gosalyn in the kitchen.

/

Drake and Gosalyn are working on her term paper in the kitchen while Beth prepares dinner. Drake has a million things on his mind but does his best to focus on helping his daughter. He shows her the once cut up pages that he had a forensics expert piece back together for him. Gosalyn is ecstatic and tightly hugs him around his neck. They still have to retype the whole paper, but now she can at least use the original paper as a reference. She doesn't have to start from scratch. Drake is relieved too, from not having to stay up all hours of the night working on homework. He helps her by reading lines from the paper while she types. As he reads, she decides to reword and restructure the paper to make it even better.

"Hey, something good has to come out of this, right?" she asks him.

Drake looks up at Beth and she smiles. They are both very proud of Gosalyn for applying herself when it comes to her school work. Drake temporarily thinks back a few years to a time when things were much different when he tried to help her with homework. She was lazy and uncooperative. She often tried to find short cuts to get the work done, but Drake wanted her to get more out of learning and made her do her homework properly. His thoughts are interrupted when Gosalyn tells him to read the next line of her paper to her.

/

An hour later, Drake walks in the girls' room and is disappointed to see that Jessie hasn't put everything back. In fact, she made the mess even worse by opening several board games and spreading the pieces from each game throughout the pile of stuff that she had created earlier. She is standing next to the pile as Drake approaches her.

"Jessie Joy, I thought I'd told you to put everything back. Now what have you been doing up here?" he asks her. He stands next to her and looks down at the pile of stuff. He reaches down and picks up a card from one of the games and looks at it with frustration. "Well, this is obviously the opposite of what I told you to do. I told you that you had one hour to put all of this stuff away. Instead you've made an even bigger mess"

He looks at her again and she looks down and away from him. He softens and decides to change his approach with her. "Tell you what. I'm going to give you another chance. You have one more hour to put all of this stuff away. And if you don't, you will be in serious trouble"

Drake waits for Jessie to respond. She doesn't say anything to him. Instead, she takes another board game from the closet and pours the pieces throughout the pile. Drake sighs and calmly positions her under his arm. He smacks her bottom and surprises himself for not feeling guilty about it. He lets go of her after delivering four smacks and is even more surprised to not get a reaction out of her. She doesn't cry, and she doesn't pout. She has a stone cold expression. He lowers himself to her level and gently grabs her arms. He then puts his beak up against hers so that she has no choice but to look at him. "Listen, when I tell you to do something, you do it. Do you understand me? Clean this up, right now!"

He leaves the room and walks downstairs, failing to see Abby standing on the other side of the bedroom door. She walks into the room and sees Jessie standing next to the pile of stuff. She walks over to her and hugs her, just as Jessie starts to cry.

/

Drake walks back into the kitchen and sits down next to Gosalyn. She puts the finishing touches on her paper and celebrates her accomplishment. Drake is glad to see Gosalyn happy and allows himself to smile. She gives him another hug which nearly knocks him over.

"Thanks Dad! This is probably the best paper I've ever written. I can't believe I'm even saying this, but maybe it's a good thing that Jessie cut up the first one"

"You're joking, right?" Drake asks

"Not at all. But don't you dare tell her I said that" Gosalyn says as she raises her finger at him.

Drake holds up his hands to show surrender. "She won't hear it from me"

Gosalyn saves her work to a disc and takes it to Honker's house so she can print it, leaving Drake and Beth alone to discuss Jessie. Beth takes a break from cooking dinner and sits next to him.

"Is everything alright?" she asks him.

"Not really. Jessie won't listen to a word I say. I feel like all I do is yell and punish, it doesn't leave much room for bonding" Drake pouts and plays with his hands while Beth rubs his shoulders.

"You should find something that the two of you can do together. Something she likes"

"She likes horseback riding, but there aren't any farms around here"

"What else does she like?" Beth asks.

"I don't know. And if I ask her I know she won't answer me. It's like talking to a wall sometimes. She prefers to pretend that I don't exist."

Beth's cell phone rings and she looks at the caller ID. "It's Abby….. hello?" Drake watches as Beth talks to Abby. She rushes over to the kitchen counter and quickly rummages through the top drawer, which causes Drake to worry. He rushes over to his wife to find out what is going on. She ends the call with Abby and pulls Jessie's back-up inhaler out of the drawer. Drake looks at his wife wide eyed. "Jessie needs her inhaler" she says to him. The adults rush out of the kitchen and up the stairs.

/

Drake and Beth rush into the girls' room to find Jessie sitting up with her back against the bureau and Abby sitting in front of her. She can't breathe. Beth quickly takes Abby's spot on the floor and helps Jessie with her inhaler. Drake and Abby watch as she encourages Jessie to breathe.

"That's it, nice and easy" she says to her.

Drake and Abby are relieved when they see that Jessie is going to be okay, but then she starts to wheeze again. Beth thinks that Jessie is troubled by Drake's presence so she tells him and Abby to wait in the hall. Drake doesn't want to leave but Beth insists.

"She's going to be fine, okay? She just needs some space" she says to them

Abby takes Drake's arm and pulls him out into the hallway. While in the hall he proceeds to blame himself for Jessie's asthma attack.

"This is all my fault" he says as he grabs his beak.

Abby is confused by this and gives him a look. "What, it's your fault that Jessie had an asthma attack?"

"I was too hard on her" he says. "All because of a stupid mess. I should have been more understanding. I should have just helped her clean it up. Instead I had to go and…"

Drake pauses and Abby waits for him to finish his sentence. When he doesn't, she finishes it for him. "smack her?"

Drake looks at Abby and feels guilty. "She told you about that huh?"

Abby shrugs her shoulders. She doesn't think what Drake did is a big deal. "She cried about it. But then she got over it and we started to put things back. We even tried to make a game of it. But then I made her sit down when I noticed that she was having trouble breathing"

"You don't think that I caused her asthma attack?" Drake asks. Although he will still blame himself regardless of what Abby says.

"I think she had an asthma attack because she has asthma, not because you punished her"

Beth peaks her head out and tells Abby that Jessie is asking for her. Abby walks into the room and sits with Jessie while Drake and Beth watch. Beth puts her arms around Drake and he puts and arm around her.

"Is she okay?" he asks her

"She's fine" Beth says. "She couldn't find her inhaler because she threw it in that pile of stuff. I told her that we need to be more careful about where we keep it, and make sure that she can find it whenever she needs it."

They watch as Abby starts to read a book to Jessie.

"Thank you for helping her" Drake says to Beth.

Beth can sense that Drake has hurt feelings about not being the one to help Jessie. "No problem. You know I'm sure this will happen often with her, since her asthma is so severe. And I'm sure someday she will depend on you to be the one to keep her calm" Drake allows himself to grin. He kisses his wife's head and holds her tighter.


	12. Ch 12 Law And Order

Drake and Gosalyn are having dinner at Pizza Palace, part of a tradition that Drake had recently started with his children. Every Wednesday night he's been taking one of them out to dinner, not only to serve as spending one on one time with them, but also as an opportunity to privately check in with them. He figures since he and Beth both work full time jobs, it is important to make sure their kids are getting everything they need from them. So far the kids have responded well to this tradition, using him as a soundboard as they spill their guts about their everyday childhood dramas. From Jake, he hears which kids were put in time out and what the current trend is for show and tell. From Gosalyn and Abby, he hears the high school sports stats and the latest gossip about who is dating who. But he also manages to get them to talk about something real, and of course offers advice whenever he can. Tonight will be slightly different, since Drake already has a topic in mind to discuss with Gosalyn.

"I wanna talk to you about Jessie" he says, getting right to the point.

"What about her?" she asks

"I need you to tell me what you think of her?"

"What I think of her?"

"Yes" he says calmly. "I want you to be honest and tell me what you think of her"

"Why?"

"Because I know you don't like her. And I want you to talk to me about it. Please, don't be afraid. Just say what comes to mind. What don't you like about her?"

Gosalyn studies her father's expression and thinks this over for a few seconds. Essentially he is giving her permission to talk about Jessie behind her back. This could be dangerous, not to mention hurtful. But as she continues to look at her father's face she realizes that he is serious about what he wants her to do, she decides to comply.

"Okay, she's needy, she's bratty and completely helpless, she's ungrateful, inconsiderate, did I mention bratty?"

Drake nods "yeah, you did"

"She can't do anything for herself" she continues. "She can't even dress herself or brush her own teeth. Abby always has to help her"

"It's not her fault, you know. Her mother did everything for her, so she never learned how to do things for herself" Drake tries to explain.

"Hey, you asked me to tell you what I think" Gosalyn reminds him. She takes a sip of her water while Drake continues to sit with his arms crossed.

"Yeah, I did. And I'm glad I did. I needed to hear it"

"What's your angle Dad?"

"Some perspective for me, and maybe a little understanding from you" He uncrosses his arms and leans on the table. "She needs our help Gos. She is all of these things because that's all she knows. She doesn't know what it is to be considerate and grateful. She doesn't know how to do things for herself because she was never taught to."

"So what you're saying is we need to teach her how to be a human being"

"Okay, the door to insulting your sister is officially closed" Drake says. "What I'm saying is there is a lot that we need to teach her. We need to be patient with her and encourage her to open up to more of us than just Abby. So, do you think you can go easier on her, maybe, be a little nicer to her?"

Gosalyn softens at her father's request. "Yeah, okay Dad"

/

Abby and Skyler are working on a school project together for their debate class. Abby is noticeably distracted, and Skyler calls her out on it.

"You okay Abs? You seem like you're a million miles away" he asks her

"Huh?"

"The debate, the one that we need to present in less than twenty four hours?"

"Yeah, right" she says as she grabs her head. "Where were we?"

"We were creating a strategy for how to convince the class that condoms should be distributed at school" he says. "But I think you have Tank on the mind"

"Is it that obvious?"

"He treating you okay?"

Abby considers his question. Of course Tank is treating her okay. Although she is troubled about Tank's recent revelation that they should get to know more about each other. She hasn't been able to think about anything else since the day he brought it up. She's known Skye for a few years now, but she's not sure that Skye knows what she's been through. She's also never confided in him about anything, so she's not sure that using him as a soundboard to discuss her troubles with Tank is a good idea. "He's treating me just fine" she says with a fake grin. "Why do you ask?"

"I don't know, I'm just surprised I guess. Tank has never been a one girl kinda guy, so you must've had some effect on him."

Abby starts to feel uncomfortable. Maybe he's right, maybe Tank actually likes her, and maybe that's why he wants to get to know her better. She never expected that to happen. Sure she's attracted to him, but she never expected him to have feelings for her. Feelings only complicate things. Abby starts fidgeting.

"You sure you're okay Abs?" he asks again.

"I'm fine" she says, but she's not very convincing. "What about you and Gosalyn?"

"There isn't a _me_ and Gosalyn" he says. "We broke up, you know that"

"Yeah, I know, but I don't really believe it. I mean you and Gosalyn are perfect for each other"

"I thought we were, but we're not. Not anymore. She made that very clear when she had sex with another guy"

"You don't really believe that do you?" she asks him.

"I have no choice. She told me flat out. She had sex with Javo" he says. This is the first time Skyler is able to verbalize his frustration about what Gosalyn did. He told Tank about it, but Tank did not see it as a big deal. Abby is more sympathetic about the topic. He rubs his head hard and then continues. "We were supposed to wait for each other. We even talked about it, multiple times even"

"So why do you believe that she had sex with him?"

"Because she told me she did. Why would she lie about it?" he asks.

"Think about it. She told you that she wanted to wait. She is fifteen years old, he's nineteen….. an adult. And he's this experienced professional dancer, someone that would be well respected and looked up to, someone that you would want to please, and someone that can easily take advantage of that. Do you honestly believe that she wanted to do it?"

Skyler thinks about Abby's words, and a light bulb starts to blink violently in his head. He starts to feel scared and angry with the thoughts that have just entered his mind. "Are you saying he raped her?"

Abby doesn't verbally respond. She doesn't need to. The look on her face says it all. Gosalyn never admitted to Abby that Javo raped her, but she knew the moment Gosalyn admitted to having sex with him. She recognized the guilt, the shame and the embarrassment in Gosalyn's eyes when she said the words out loud. And now Skyler knows the truth. "What are you going to do?" she asks him, but he doesn't respond.

/

Drake and Gosalyn have finished eating dinner and have ordered dessert, a piece of triple layer chocolate cake and vanilla ice cream to share. While they wait, Gosalyn decides to discuss something else with her father.

"Hey Dad, I've been thinking…"

"About what kiddo?" he asks.

"I wanna stop going to therapy"

Drake looks at his daughter with a surprised expression. "Why, is there something wrong with Dr Santos?"

"No, I just don't think I need to go anymore"

"Gosalyn, you've been through a lot this past year. And from what I can see therapy has been helping. Why would you want to stop now?"

Gosalyn considers her words before she speaks. "I…. just don't see the point anymore. I'm not on drugs, I'm not thinking about drugs or alcohol for that matter. And you and I are doing great. Aren't we?"

"Yeah…. We are. But Sweetheart, something major happened to you not so long ago. Have you been talking to Dr Santos about Javo?"

The sound of his name sends a chill up her spine. She'd like to forget about him, forget what he did to her, forget what he may have done to her the night of the fire. She still cannot remember everything about that night. Some things have been coming back to her in pieces, but not everything. The silence starts to worry Drake.

"Gosalyn?"

Gosalyn looks up at her father. "I've talked to you about it. I don't need to talk to her about it too"

"Gos, that's what she's there for. You mean to tell me you haven't said a word of this to Dr Santos?"

Gosalyn shakes her head and looks down.

"Why not?" he asks her

Gosalyn looks up at her father again. "Because I don't want to remember what he did to me. Talking to a therapist about it would only jog my memory and I'd rather not let that happen. I just want to put it behind me." Drake looks at Gosalyn, not quite sure what to say to her. She feels the need to say something. "I don't want you to worry. I'm fine"

Drake has had his elbows on the table and his hands folded at his beak. He slides his elbows out so that his arms and hands are on the table. "I don't think you're fine. I think…"

The waitress interrupts them by placing the tall slice of cake with vanilla ice cream in the middle of the table. "Will there be anything else?" she asks them.

"Nope that will do it, thank you" Drake says. The waitress walks away, and Drake turns his attention back to Gosalyn and picks up his spoon. "What about Skyler?"

"What about him?" Gosalyn asks as she picks up her spoon and starts to eat some of the dessert.

"You two aren't together" he reminds her as he too starts to eat the dessert.

"I just don't want a boyfriend right now" she lies to him.

"You sure that's all it is?"

"Um hmm" Gosalyn continues to eat the dessert and purposely allows some of the vanilla and chocolate to get on her face as a way to make her father laugh, and it works. He can't help but laugh at her, and she laughs back.

/

Gosalyn and Drake arrive home and walk into the girls' room. Jessie is in her pajamas and ready for bed. It is only seven thirty, but she is used to going to bed early. When she lived in Texas, she went to sleep at seven o'clock every night. She picks up a book and starts to show it to Abby, and Drake elbows Gosalyn. Gosalyn glares up at her father and he gives her a look in return. She walks over to Jessie and tries to play nice.

"Why don't you let me read to you Jessie?" she asks her.

"But Abby always reads to me"

Abby tries to help. "Well, maybe Gosalyn would like to read the book to you tonight"

"I want you to read it to me" Jessie says to Abby.

Gosalyn looks back at Drake and shrugs her shoulders. She walks past him and leaves the room, and Drake just watches as Abby starts to read to Jessie. He lets out a sigh as he watches the girls continue to bond. In a way, he is happy that Jessie has someone that she can talk to. But he longs for the day when that someone will be him.

/

Drake meets up with his partner the next day and they immediately get started on the case. He and Detective Vance are out and about interviewing their missing person's co-workers. While they are walking through the city, she asks him about Jessie.

"First day of school today?"

"Yeah" he says. "I just hope Jessie can fit in and make some friends. She seems to get along with my neighbor's daughter." He is referring to Tinkershay Muddlefoot, Herb and Binky's six year old daughter. "We've been trying to set up a play date for them but they have Tink involved in every activity you can think of, it takes up a lot of her time"

"My son plays soccer, I think that's enough activity for a six year old" Taylor says as they arrive at an apartment building to meet with one of Molly's co-workers.

"Jessie's mother said she enjoys acrobatics, I've gotta start looking into that."

"So no Soccer Dad carpool for you?" she jokes with him.

"She can play soccer if she wants. One step at a time there Detective." Drake is interrupted by his cell phone. He looks at the caller ID and recognizes the number. "Detective Mallard" he says as he starts to remember who the number belongs to. "Principal Farnsworth" he says. His face cringes as he listens to her speak. Drake can remember countless meetings with the Elementary School Principal from when Gosalyn was in trouble. "I know, it's been a while. I don't know if you know this or not but Gosalyn doesn't go to your school anymore… Oh, you're calling about Jessie….. yeah…. yeah I will be there soon. Thank you." Drake ends the call on his cell phone and looks down at it for a few seconds.

Taylor shrugs her shoulders. "The School Principal huh?"

"First day of school and she's already in trouble?" he yells out loud as he squeezes his cell phone. He leaves Taylor to conduct the interview while he walks back to the Station House for his car.

/

Drake walks into the principal's office and sees Jessie sitting in one of the chairs. She is looking down at her hands folded in her lap with a sad expression on her face. Before he can talk to her he is approached by the principal. "Mr Mallard, or should I say, Detective Mallard" she shakes his hand.

"Hello Principal Farnsworth. So, uh, what's going on with my daughter, is she okay?" he asks nervously as he glances over at her.

"Your daughter refuses to remove her hat in class. Her teacher had asked her several times today but she won't budge. I was hoping you could talk to her"

Drake hesitates and looks over at his daughter again. She is still looking down. The principal is referring to the cowboy hat that Jessie always wears. Suddenly it occurs to him that he rarely sees her without the hat. "Listen, um, I know that this school has rules, and believe me I know about rules. But she always wears that hat."

"I understand" she says. "But we make these rules for a reason, and we can't allow her back in class unless she is willing to follow them"

Drake looks back at his daughter again before he continues. "There's no way you could just let her…"

"I'm sorry Detective" she interrupts him. "If we bend the rules for her then we'd have to bend the rules for everyone. Now, you need to take her home for the day, and then bring her back when she's ready to come to class without the hat"

Drake sighs and waits for the principal to get the paperwork for him to sign her out. This is the last thing he needs right now. It is still the middle of the day and he has to get back to work. He is also not sure how to convince Jessie to ditch the hat so she can attend school. He signs his name and leaves the office with his daughter.

/

Drake pulls up in front of the Station House and effortlessly parallel parks his SUV. He gets out of the car and walks around to the back passenger side to help Jessie out. He passively unbuckles her seat belt and lifts her out of the car. His focus isn't really on his daughter right now, but rather on getting back to working on the case. He grabs her back pack and helps her put her arms through the straps. He starts to walk toward the Station House but stops when he notices that Jessie is not walking with him. He turns around and sees her staring up at the tall building with big letters that spell out Saint Canard Police Department.

"What, what's wrong?" he asks her

"I don't wanna go to jail"

Drake's heart melts at the sound of her soft innocent voice, coupled with the look of fear in her eyes. He puts his hand on his chest. "You think I'd put you in jail"

Jessie doesn't answer, but lightly nods her head and looks down. She grips the straps of her backpack which is holding two of her school books and some pencils. Drake slowly approaches her and kneels down to be at her level. "This is where I work. I'm a Police Detective" he says as he shows her his badge. "When people get lost or go missing it's my job to find them and bring them home safely"

Jessie looks at his badge and still shows a sad expression. "Police put bad guys in jail" she says

"Yeah, they do. Bad guys that break the law, not little girls that break rules in school. Kids get after school detention or sent home with their parents when they break the rules"

Jessie looks up at Drake with her bright blue eyes, scared of what he will do since she got in trouble at school. Drake is not sure how to handle this yet and plans to deal with it later. "Daddy has to work right now, so Beth is going to come pick you up soon, she just can't do it right now. So you're going to sit at my desk and do your math homework, okay?"

Jessie nods her head in agreement and walks into the Station House with him.

/

Drake and Jessie approach the detectives on his team, and everyone stops and stares at the shy adorable duckling. Drake takes notice and tries to avoid making a big deal about her being there. He puts his hands on her shoulders and leads her over to his desk. Some of the detectives follow him.

"Is this your daughter Mallard?" one of them asks.

"Uh, yes, this is my daughter Jessie. Honey these are the other detectives on my team" he says. Jessie looks up at them and Drake can see that she is still scared. He sets her up at his desk and puts her homework in front of her. "Here, work on this while I get some work done, okay?"

Drake's Captain joins them and notices Jessie. "Last I checked this was a police station, not a daycare center" he says firmly.

"I'm sorry Captain, I had to pick her up from school early"

"Take it easy Mallard" Captain softens and introduces himself. "Hello young lady, I'm Captain Regs, your Daddy's boss"

Jessie looks up at him and is reluctant, but when she notices his friendly demeanor she shakes his hand.

"Beth's going to pick her up in an hour" Drake says

"Where's Vance, we have to get back to work on finding Molly" Captain says

"Right here Captain, and I have something big" she says as she walks over to them with some paperwork. "Found something in our Landlord's past, could be helpful to our case. A female tenant in a building he managed five years ago went missing, never been found, same age as Molly"

Drake takes a look at the paperwork and is impressed with his partner, but of course he is too proud to show it. "Ah, this is definitely something worth looking into"

"Find out everything you can about this missing woman" Captain orders. "Re-interview friends, co-workers, family members….."

"We'll get right on it Captain" Vance says. She looks over and sees Jessie at Drake's desk, focused on her math work. Drake looks over at her as well and smiles. Jessie seems a lot more relaxed now that the focus is on the case and not on her.

"Um, I need to stick around here for a while, but I can look through the old case file and listen to the old interviews" Drake says.

"Perfect, let's get to work" Vance says.

/

Later that evening Drake and Beth are clearing the dinner table and washing dishes together. The kids are upstairs working on homework and getting ready for bed.

"They sent her home because she refused to take her hat off" Drake says as he roughly places dishes in the sink.

"Honey the school has rules"

"I know, but they could've given her a break. It was her first day of school for heaven's sake"

"Honey, what's really bothering you?" Beth asks. She is positioned behind him and he turns around to face her.

"The look on her face" he says softly. "She thought I was mad at her, she thought I took her to the police station so that I could put her in jail"

"I'm sure she didn't think that"

"Yes she did" Drake insists. He puts his hands on the counter behind him and leans back. "Just… the look on her face, her big sad blue eyes, she looked so frightened. I can't get that image of my head"

Beth gives her husband a hug. "She's okay now. You saw her at the dinner table. She actually ate some of her dinner without us having to press her about it"

"Yeah, but are you sure she didn't do that out of fear of being punished? In her eyes I'm the Big Bad Wolf"

"You are not, stop it" Beth says as she lightly slaps his chest. "Just keep doing what you do and eventually Jessie will see how great you are"

"And now?"

"Now we have to get her to go to school tomorrow without the hat" she says

"Abby's working on it" Drake says. "Jessie listens to Abby, so I figured if anyone could get Jessie to ditch the hat Abby could"

/

An hour later Drake and Beth are sitting in the family room watching the news. They hear someone rummaging outside the front door. Drake cautiously stands up and walks toward the door with Beth a few steps behind him. He reaches for his hand gun in case the intruder attacks him. They are both very quiet. Before he is able to open the door, it opens and reveals a familiar and friendly face. Drake lets out a sigh of relief and tucks his hand gun away.

"Hayley" he says and gives her a hug. She is carrying MacKena. Drake carefully takes the tired toddler out of her arms and holds her. "You're back early"

"Well, couldn't stay in Canada forever. We got things wrapped up early so it was time to come back" she says.

"Why didn't you call me? I could have picked you up at the airport" Drake reaches in his pocket for money and tips the Taxi driver for carrying Hayley's luggage into the house.

"I know you guys are busy. It's a school night for the kids and a work night for you. So we took a cab"

"Welcome back Sweetie" Beth says as she gives Hayley a hug.

"I'm going to put this little one to bed" Drake says of the sleeping toddler in his arms. "Why don't you go say hello to the girls?"

"Is Jessie up there too?" she asks about her niece that she's yet to meet.

"Of course, come on I'll come with you" Beth says.

/

Abby is talking to Jessie about her hat while Gosalyn is focusing on her homework. They are interrupted when Hayley and Beth walk into the room. Gosalyn and Abby run over and give Hayley a hug while Jessie watches from her bed. Hayley is very happy to see the girls. She hugs them back with a big smile on her face. She looks over and sees Jessie.

"And who is this little lady?" She walks over to the bed and sits with Jessie. "What's your name Sweetie?"

"Jessie Joy Conrad" she says with her soft voice.

Hayley smiles at her. She is too cute for words. "You are way too cute to be my brother's child" she says. The girls laugh, and Jessie starts to feel more comfortable. Hayley notices her hat on the bed and picks it up. "Is this your hat?"

"We're trying to get her to see that she doesn't need to wear it all the time" Abby says.

"It's a very nice hat" Hayley says. "But Abby's right you know, you're beautiful without the hat"

"But I like the hat" Jessie says. She reaches over and takes the hat from Hayley.

"I know you do, but it's less exciting if you get to wear it all the time, don't you think? So I'm presenting a challenge Miss Conrad. I challenge you to go a whole day, starting now, without wearing the hat"

Jessie looks up at Abby, and Abby nods at her.

"What do you say?" Hayley asks.

"Okay" Jessie says. She gives the hat to Hayley. Drake listens from outside the room and can't help but smile.

/

The next day Drake and Beth watch the girls leave the house for school. Jessie is following through with the challenge by not wearing her hat. Drake is pleased, even though he had nothing to do with it.

"Thanks for helping with Jessie last night" he says to Hayley.

"No problem. I'm glad it's working. I guess we'll need to think of a reward for her"

"If Jessie goes the full day without the hat, I'm taking everyone out for ice cream tomorrow" Drake says proudly.

"Sounds fair" Beth says. She kisses Drake goodbye and watches him leave for work.

/

Drake and Vance are outside of Molly's apartment building. They are following up on a tip they received that she may be in the building somewhere. After reviewing the other missing woman's case file they are convinced that the landlord is responsible for Molly's disappearance. They have backup officers with them.

Drake nods to Vance once he sees that they are clear to enter the building. They have their guns drawn. Vance searches the first floor while Drake checks the basement. He can hear Molly moaning, so he slowly moves closer and closer toward the sound. There are several walls and several small rooms in the basement. He checks each one and doesn't find Molly. He is about to search each room again but is interrupted when the landlord speaks.

"Something I can help you with Detective?"

Drake slowly turns around and sees the landlord holding a gun. "Where's Molly?" he asks.

"Why do you men and blue always have to interfere? What did I ever do to you?"

"You kidnapped a woman, and you are holding her against her will. Last I heard that's against the law" Drake says as he holds his gun on him.

"Put your gun away Detective. You know you aren't going to shoot me"

"Where's Molly?" Drake repeats himself. He is still holding is gun on the landlord.

The landlord opens two doors to a room and reveals Molly tied to a chair. She has a gag in her mouth, which is why she's only been able to moan. Her face is soaked with tears and her hair is a mess. She looks weak, like she hasn't eaten in days.

"Let her go" Drake orders, but the landlord just laughs at him.

"Now why would I do a thing like that" he walks over and stands next to Molly. "If I let her go she'll run away from me, and we can't have that can we?" He pinches Molly's cheek which makes her cringe. He takes a few steps away from Molly and waves his gun around. "If you think about it Detective, I'm not hurting anyone by keeping her here with me. She has no family, no friends, she's just another pretty face. Well, not at the moment, but you know what I mean"

"She has a boyfriend, he really cares about her. He misses her and he wants her back safely" Drake says softly. He still has his gun aimed at him.

"Don't be a moron Detective. She's a stripper, nobody cares about strippers. They are just playthings that you rent for an hour and then send them on their merry little way with a few hundred dollars. She takes her clothes off for a living. Where's the respect? Where's the dignity?"

"You think you're helping her by keeping her tied up down here?"

"Who says I'm helping her? I'm punishing her. She needs to learn that what she is doing is very bad."

"And who appointed you her guardian?" Drake asks.

"Me, since no one else is going to step up and interfere with the stripper population, I guess it has to be me" the landlord says. He is still waving his gun around, but Drake's training is helping him stay cool and focused.

"So you admit there were others. Like Denise Latham"

The landlord's facial expression changes at the sound of her name

Drake continues. "She was a stripper. You kidnapped her too didn't you? You kept her locked in the basement with no food, no water, no sunlight. You let her die"

"I didn't mean for her to die" the landlord says softly. "That wasn't supposed to happen"

"But you let it happen. And if you continue to torture Molly like this, she's going to die too."

"Stop it"

"You have to let her go, she needs medical attention" Drake says.

"I can take care of her" the landlord says, he's getting sloppy since Drake is messing with his emotions.

"I've had enough of this" Drake says. He walks over to Molly and starts to untie her. The landlord holds his gun on Drake and threatens to shoot, but Drake continues to remove the ropes that are keeping Molly confined. As Drake stars to until the last of the ropes a gunshot is heard.

The backup officers proceed to rush into the building. One of the officers talks into his communicator. "Call a bus, someone has been shot"


	13. Ch 13 Close Call

Police and Emergency Personnel have arrived at the apartment building where the landlord has been holding Molly hostage. A single gunshot has prompted back up officers to enter the building armed with guns and bullet proof vests. Attempts to communicate with Drake and Taylor have failed, which has their Captain worried. He too enters the building armed with a gun and a bullet proof vest.

Inside the basement Molly is almost free of her bonds. She gently rubs her wrists and lightly sobs as her legs are being untied. Two backup officers emerge and immediately take the landlord into custody. He has been shot in the chest. EMTs also join them and start to treat Molly and the landlord.

Drake stands up and turns around to see Taylor holding the service weapon she used to shoot the landlord. She is staring at the landlord, the look of shock written all over her face, and she is struggling to catch her breath. Drake slowly walks over to her. He gently takes both of her hands in his and gets her to let go of the gun. He takes it from her and tucks it away. Their Captain joins them and is relieved to see that they are both alright. Taylor continues to stare at the landlord and Drake continues to stare at her. The events that took place in the last five minutes start to sink in for both of them. She shot the landlord in order to stop him from shooting Drake. She saved his life.

"I need your gun" Captain says to Taylor. Drake has her gun and hands it over, then watches the Captain walk away. Drake puts his hands in his pockets and lets out a sigh. He looks at his partner again, and she is still staring at the landlord. The EMTs put him on a stretcher and start to wheel him away. They wheel him past Taylor, and she and Drake watch until he is no longer in the basement. While this is happening, CSU agents arrive and start processing the scene.

Drake puts his hand on Taylor's shoulder and she turns around to face him. "Let's get out of here" he says to her.

/

At the Station House, Taylor is sitting at her desk in silence. Drake finishes with his paper work and sits down at his desk which is directly across from hers. Drake is watching her, waiting for her to say something. She doesn't make eye contact with him. She has her hands folded on her desk and she is staring at them. "Internal Affairs is going to be all over this" she says softly.

"You didn't do anything wrong" Drake says. He is calm, and he clearly does not see anything wrong with what Taylor did.

"I shot a man" she says as she looks up at him.

Drake can see that her eyes are red, and she is scared. He stands up and walks over to her. He sits down on her desk and she looks down at her hands again. "He was going to shoot me. And if you didn't shoot first, he would have. Because of you, I get to go home to my wife and kids tonight"

Taylor takes a deep breath and lets it out. "We're partners. I know you would have done the same thing"

"You're right. I would have"

Drake looks up and sees his wife. Tears are threatening and she looks like she is going to collapse as they make eye contact. Drake rushes over to her and pulls her into a tight embrace. He rubs her back as she starts to cry in his arms. "Bethy, what's wrong?" he asks her as he pulls out of their embrace and holds her in front of him.

"I saw it on the news" she says as she wipes tears that have dripped onto her beak. "They showed the apartment building and they were talking about Molly, I know that's the young woman you were looking for. And the reporter said she heard a gunshot"

Drake holds his wife again and tries to get her to calm down. "It's okay. I'm okay, I promise" He continues to hold her and then whispers to her "I'll let you see for yourself later tonight." Beth laughs and starts to relax. Drake lets her go and she nods, letting him know that she's okay. "Give me a minute okay?"

Drake kisses Beth's forehead and then turns and walks back to his partner. He sits on her desk again. "I owe you an apology. And… you should listen because it doesn't happen very often"

Taylor manages a grin and looks up at him.

"I'm sorry I gave Captain a hard time last year….. about partnering me with you. You really had my back today, and I'll always be grateful for that. And I promise to always have yours"

Taylor is pleased and she nods her head. "And when Internal Affairs questions you?"

"I will tell them the truth. That you shot our perp to stop him from shooting me and our victim.

Drake stands and leaves the station with a protective arm around his wife.

/

The next day Gosalyn is home by herself in the afternoon. Drake has made good on his promise and has taken his family out for ice cream since Jessie managed a full day without her hat. Gosalyn opted to stay home. She is sitting on the couch watching Sports Talk when the doorbell rings. She raises her eyebrow. _Who could that be?_ She wonders to herself, slightly annoyed. She walks over to the door and opens it to Tank.

"Abby's not here"

"I know" he says. "Can I come in anyway?"

Gosalyn steps aside and allows Tank into the house. He walks into the family room and sits on the couch. Gosalyn follows him.

"What are you doing here?" she asks him, still slightly annoyed.

"I'm actually here to see you. Hope that's okay"

"I guess. What's this about?" Gosalyn sits down on the couch.

"Skyler" he says so matter-of-factly.

"What about him?"

"You two aren't together, and I thought that was only temporary, but now I'm starting to think that that's not the case"

Gosalyn catches herself glaring at him, but then recovers. "It's not temporary"

"Are you okay?"

"What?" This catches Gosalyn off guard. _Why is he here? What's it got to do with him anyway?_

"I asked you if you were okay"

"Tank….." she doesn't know what to say, and she starts to get annoyed again. "Really?"

"Okay, look, I know that I'm not your favorite person in the world. You and I have had this boy-girl-annoying-neighbor banter relationship for years and I'm not about to put a stop to it. Skyler's my best friend, but I've known you a lot longer. So I just wanted to check on you to see if you were alright"

Gosalyn is frozen in her spot. She's never expected Tank to care so much, about anything for that matter. Although it has recently become clear to her that Tank cares about Abby. Maybe there's hope for him yet.

"Um, Thank you?" she says.

"Not the answer I was expecting, but you're welcome?"

"I'm just surprised that you have taken interest in my feelings about this. It's kind of out of left field"

"Like my friendship with Skyler" he agrees.

"Yeah"

Tank shifts on the couch so that he is facing her more. "I know it is very uncharacteristic of me, but lately I've been doing a lot of things that are very uncharacteristic of me, so why stop now?"

"Like, asking Abby for a more emotionally intimate relationship?" the words are out of her mouth before she can stop them, and she regrets saying them.

Tank smiles at the thought of Abby, and also takes joy in Gosalyn's discomfort on the subject. She visibly squirms. "She told you about that huh?"

Gosalyn looks at Tank and tries to figure out if he's angry or grateful that Abby told her about his recent request. "Abby and I talk, and she confided in me. Don't be mad at her"

"I'm not mad" he says, his tone is calm. "I just hope she considers it. I think it will be good for both of us."

Gosalyn cannot believe her ears. She listened to Abby when she said that Tank wants more in their relationship, but to hear it straight from Tank has an even bigger affect. "You really care about her"

"Yes I do, oddly enough. I've gotta say I've never expected that to happen" Tank says with a grin.

Gosalyn grins back at him. "Neither did I. I'm happy for you"

"Thanks Gosalyn" Tank shifts the focus back on her. "Is there anything I can do for you? You know, I can talk to Skyler…."

"No" she interrupts him. "Please… don't do that, that is really not necessary"

Tank eyes her curiously, wondering if he should ask her his next question. "Did you really sleep with that Javo guy?"

Gosalyn is frozen in her spot again. This time her eyes are open wide. _Did he just ask me that question?_ she wonders to herself.

She is saved by the front door opening and Jake and MacKena running into the house, followed by the rest of the family. Tank stands to greet Abby with a soft kiss.

"What are you doing here?" she asks him.

"I came to talk to Gosalyn. I've gotta go, but can we get together later?"

"Sure" she answers him and they part with another kiss.

Abby sits down with Gosalyn while the rest of the family retreats to different parts of the house.

"What was that about?" Abby asks her.

"He came to check on me" Gosalyn answers with a weird look on her face. "Anyway, I think you should do it"

"Do what?"

"Do what Tank asked you to do, and open up to him"

"Gosalyn, I don't think I can do that." Abby squirms in her seat just thinking about it.

"Yes you can, and you have to. Tank is crazy about you Abby. Your relationship has changed him so much. I can tell it's not just about the sex for him."

"Is that what you too were talking about?" Abby says, sounding as appalled as possible.

"No, that's not what we were talking about. It's just the way he was today when he was talking to me, I could tell. He has it bad for you, and I think if you take this to the next level… trust me, you won't regret it."

"Gosalyn, you make it sound so easy, but it's not"

"It's not easy, it's hard. Really hard, but you care about him, and he cares about you, and I think you owe it to each other to make this leap"

"Okay, I'll think about it. But while I'm doing that, I think you should take a good look at your situation with Skyler."

Gosalyn shifts uncomfortably in her seat, but tries to stay cool. "Skyler and I don't have a situation."

"He still cares about you Gosalyn. That has to count for something."

/

Later in the day, Drake is walking around the house looking for his family. "Beth!" he calls out. She walks into the family room to greet him.

"Drake, what is it?"

"Where is everybody?"

Beth manages to act cool and hide her excitement while she answers his question. "Well, Abby's at Tank's, your sister took the kids to a movie, and Gosalyn is having coffee with Bree"

Drake raises an eyebrow. "Why is Gosalyn having coffee with Bree?"

"Honey calm down. Bree extended the invitation and Gosalyn accepted. I'm sure Gosalyn will tell you all about it later." Beth takes his hands in hers and continues to restrain her excitement, but it's becoming increasingly difficult. "I thought it would be nice for the two of us to have the house to ourselves for a few hours"

Drake calms down and gives his wife a seductive smile. "Oh really, what did you have in mind Mrs Mallard?" He puts his arms around her, and she reaches up and puts her arms around his neck.

"I was thinking we could…." She whispers her intentions into his ear, and his smile grows larger. He scoops her up into his arms and carries her upstairs, which makes her squeal.

/

Tank and Abby are in his room. They are both sitting on the floor next to his bed talking about events of the past week. Abby is the first to bring up the subject of his recent request.

"I thought about what you said, and I'd really like to give you what you want" she starts.

"But?" he says, sensing that this isn't going to happen.

"I need you to understand that this is really hard for me, opening up about things that are very personal for me, and things that hurt me" Abby says, she's looking down at her fingers on the carpet.

Tank picks up her hand and kisses it gently, offering some reassurance. "You don't have to do this"

"Yes I do, because I want what you want. I just haven't allowed myself to believe that. I've tried to hide my feelings because I don't want to get hurt. And…. well, with your reputation, I just assumed that you would hurt me. Get bored with me and move onto someone else."

"And now?"

"You've surprised me" she says as she looks up at him. "You don't make me feel like I'm just some girl you have sex with. And I thought that that's what it was going to be like with you. I thought I was going to be some number to you, and on some level I was okay with that because I needed that from you."

Tank has a sad expression. "I hope you don't still feel that way"

"I don't. You do things to show that you care, and that's new to me. It's not something I'm used to."

"Are you used to people mistreating you?" Tank asks, this time with a confused expression.

"Yes" Abby breathes, and Tank can see that this is very difficult for her. He sighs.

"I meant what I said, you don't have to do this" he says to her, and gently puts his hand on her cheek to reassure her.

"No, I have to. I need to tell you" she says as a tear starts to drip down her face. Tank wipes the tear away with his thumb and then leaves go of her. "You already know that my mother was in jail, and my stepfather is in jail right now"

"Yeah, for tax evasion"

"That's what I told everybody, but that's not the truth" Abby says, more tears start to well in her eyes. "He um, he abused me…. physically, emotionally and sexually, and he abused my mother" Abby can hardly get the words out, her voice filled with great emotion and pain. Tank is still and pale. He didn't see this coming. He looks like he'd been punched in the gut. "Say something" she pleads.

"Um, how long?" Tank's voice is also filled with emotion, something that Abby's never seen in him.

"It started when I was twelve, right after she married him. My mother was arrested because the police felt that she had means to stop him"

"Why didn't she?" Tank's voice quickly changes from emotional to angry.

"He abused her too. I think she was afraid of him. And I was afraid to tell anyone"

"You, you were a child. You couldn't possibly get out of that situation on your own." Tank tries to reassure her and himself. "It wasn't your fault"

"I know that now" Abby says, she takes Tank's hand in an attempt to be the reassuring one. "I didn't know that then, but I know that now. The Mallards helped me see that. And, they are the only ones that know about this. Them and, now you"

"I won't tell anyone, you have my word. You can trust me."

Abby nods her head and manages to smile at Tank.

"I really want to just hold you right now, would that be okay?" he asks her. She nods her head again and allows him to pull her toward him. He holds her tight while he tries to register what she had just told him. He brings his hand up to her head and kisses her hair.

/

Gosalyn and Bree sit at a table at the coffee house just a few yards away from the movie theater. Hayley had dropped Gosalyn off before taking in a movie with Jessie, Jake and MacKena. Gosalyn is enjoying a carmel latte while Bree has a black coffee. Gosalyn has not talked to Bree since before the Javo incident, and she's is curious about what Bree has to say.

Bree takes a sip of her coffee and looks up at Gosalyn. "How's your latte?"

Gosalyn takes a sip of her latte and wipes away some whipped cream that has remained on her beak. "It's good. I haven't had one of these in a while"

Bree smiles warmly at Gosalyn, then she goes back to frowning. Gosalyn notices and decides to take the lead. "So, what did you want to talk to me about?"

"First I want to apologize to you. What happened at your last rehearsal, with the fire… and with Javo…"

"Please" Gosalyn cuts her off. "I'd rather not talk about that."

"I understand. I just feel responsible. As your teacher I should have looked out for you. You have every right to blame me for this."

"I'm sure my Dad does, but I don't blame you. I'm not a little kid" she snaps, taking Bree by surprise.

"No, you're not. But you are a minor, and I know now that I need to be more careful and selective when it comes to the teachers and students that I work with. And when I say students, I really hope that can still include you."

Gosalyn takes a moment to think about this. She takes another sip of her latte and looks down at the table. "I don't know that I'm ready to dance with anybody again" she says softly.

"I understand, but I was thinking more in the lines of solo performances." Gosalyn looks up at Bree, she's caught her interest. "I have a few competitions coming up, and I'd really like to work with you and choreograph some solo numbers if you are interested."

Gosalyn does not give her an answer right away, but she is definitely interested in competing again. _Dancing_, _am I ready for this?_ "I'd like to talk to my Dad about this first, you know, so I'm not going behind his back"

"Understood" Bree smiles and continues to drink her coffee.

/

Drake and Beth are enjoying a nice hot bubble bath in a spa tub that they had recently installed in their bathroom. Drake is enjoying the investment more now that he gets to spend time in the tub with this wife. They are sitting across from each other, and Drake is massaging her feet.

"Mm, what did I ever do to deserve this?"

Drake looks up at her and gives her a goofy grin. "You love me"

"I sure do. Why did we wait so long to take a bath together in this luxurious tub?"

"We have a house full of kids. We're going to have to have Hayley take them out more often so I can have you all to myself." Drake reaches over and kisses his wife.

"My turn" she says. She moves so that she is behind him and starts to wash and massage his shoulders, his arms, his back and his chest. Drake puts his head back toward her and enjoys the feel of her hands on him. "How's that feel?"

"That feels good baby" he says softly.

Beth finishes and sits next to Drake. He wraps his arm around her and they sit in silence for a few minutes. Drake can sense that she has something on her mind and asks her about it. "Something on your mind?"

"Hm? No, not really"

"Tell me" he says. He knows better than to let this go.

Beth lets out a sigh and sits up so that she can look him in the eye. "I was really scared yesterday"

"I know you were. I'm sorry about that. I hate that you had to have that idea in your head for even a second." Drake reaches up and pushes her hair away from her face.

"Tell me what happened"

"Beth, no…"

"Please, I need to know"

Drake shakes his head. "Why?"

"Because, I am your wife. I deserve to know what you had to face"

Drake is reluctant, but decides to tell her about the incident with the landlord. "The landlord kidnapped Molly, and he was holding her hostage in the basement. He had her tied up in a chair and gagged. I started to untie her and the landlord was about to shoot me." Drake stops when he sees the expression on Beth's face. She grimaces, but then stops because she wants Drake to continue. "Vance shot him before he could, she saved my life."

"She did" Beth gasps and has tears run down her face. Drake reaches up to wipe them away.

"Yeah, she did. I'm lucky to have her as my partner. She's smart, she's sharp, and she's quick on her feet. So, if I am ever in a situation like I was yesterday, I want you to know that I have a partner that has my back, and I'll always have her back. Right?"

Beth quickly nods her head, she still has tears in her eyes, fearful of what could have happened and what could still happen since her husband is a police detective. He puts his life in danger in order to help others. "I'm proud of you" she says to him softly. She holds his face as he kisses her.

/

Drake and Beth walk into the foyer to greet Hayley and the kids when they arrive home. They are smiling and holding hands. Hayley is pleased that she was able to take the kids out for them. Gosalyn cannot resist her urge to tease Drake about it.

"So, how was your evening Mr and Mrs Mallard?"

Drake smiles fondly at her. He will not allow her to kill his good mood. "Kitchen" he says to her with a small hint of reprimand. She does as she's told and walks into the kitchen. Drake kisses Beth again and follows his daughter.

/

When Drake walks into the kitchen, he watches as Gosalyn quickly prepares a snack of crackers and grapes. They both sit at the table and she moves the plate between them to share.

"So, how'd your meeting go with Bree?" Drake asks as he pops a grape into his mouth, trying not to sound annoyed with her, but Gosalyn knows better.

"Beth told you, huh?"

"Beth and I don't keep secrets. Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I knew you'd freak out. I didn't want you to stop me from going"

Drake tries to control the anger that is starting to build inside him. He hates when his daughter keeps things from him. He rubs his head hard. "Alright, so you met with Bree, what did she want?"

"She wanted to know if I wanted to start dancing again" Gosalyn says innocently as she starts on a cracker.

"What did you tell her?"

Gosalyn shrugs her shoulders. "I said I'd think about it, and that I wanted to talk to you about it." Gosalyn throws that last bit in there to get back in his good graces, and it seems to work.

"Gos, is this something that you want? Because if it is, I'm not going to hold you back from it"

Gosalyn thinks this over for a few seconds and grabs a grape from the plate. She didn't expect this response from Drake. She thought his overprotective tendencies would take over and she'd have to fight him on this. Instead, the ball is in her court and he is waiting for her answer. "I never thought I'd like dancing, but then it became a big part of my life, and then it lead to something dark and disturbing" Drake frowns as he watches Gosalyn relive a painful time in her life. She shakes her head and continues, still playing with the grape with her fingers. "You taught me to be fearless, I learned that from you. I wanna do this, I wanna work with Bree again and compete again." She looks up at Drake and he smiles at her. She smiles back.

"You sure about this?"

"Yes"

"That's great Gos" he grabs her shoulder and rubs it. This is a proud moment for him. "I'm gonna have a talk with Bree first."

"Dad!"

"Don't worry. I promise to be nice. I feel like it's my duty as a father to make sure that your safety takes precedence over everything"

Gosalyn glares at Drake, but then she softens. She knew that the overprotective parent was in there somewhere, and he has surfaced.


End file.
